Re: (sgml vs XML)+indexing

[Ali Abdin <ALIABDIN aucegypt edu>]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, John Sheehan wrote:

> Gregory Leblanc wrote:
> 
> > > Solbook is SGML based and is indeed a subset of Docbook, so it's simple to 
> > > convert to Docbook, but not in the opposite direction since the GDP use 
> > > certain inline tags which are not in SolBook. 
> > 
> > 
> > Is this what the man pages on Solaris are written in now, or is it used
> > for the answer books, or what?   What was the rationale behind using a
> > subset of DocBook for Sun's documentation?
> > 
> SolBook is used for all Solaris documentation: Answerbook, online help,
> printed docs, and (I think) man pages.  DocBook is very rich.  Using a
> subset allows us to simplify our tools and hold more easily to an internally
> agreed doc style.
> 
> > > Sun is extending SolBook to include the extra inline tags used by the GDP.
> > > And we are creating filters for the metadata to allow us to flip a doc in
> > > DocBook to SolBook and back again.  The reason we want to work internally 
> > > in Solbook is that all the back-end corporate tools for editing, publishing, 
> > > and localisation are based on the SolBook DTD.  But with the filters we can 
> > > issue and exchange Gnome docs in DocBook.  
> > 
> > Is there a listing of the changes between SolBook and DocBook?  By the
> > name "SolBook", it sounds like this is primarily for use in Solaris, is
> > that a valid assumption?  (I've been storing up these questions since
> > Solaris 7 arrived, now I have a real excuse to ask them)  Thanks,
> > 
> 
> Yes, it's supported by the Solaris tools group, but most other product groups
> in Sun use it.  
> 
> I don't have an exact list of the SolBook/DocBook differences but the tools 
> group indicate that:
>  - there are only 7 or 8 inline DocBook tags which are used by the GDP and 
>    which are not supported by SolBook.  For example, SolBook doesn't have 
>    <guimenuitem>, we bold menu items instead.  The tools group will extend 
>    SolBook to support these GDP inline tags.  

Okay this is good I guess :)

>  - The Gnome templates support two models -- article and book.  SolBook tools
>    do not support article.  

There is also the 'glossary' (which is neither an article nor a book as 
far as I know). We use articles for simple, less comprehensive docs I 
believe

>  - SolBook does not support .png files.  We can either put .png support in
>    SolBook or provide converters to change .png to other file types or back.

I would recommend adding PNG files to SolBook (I believe DocBook 4.x 
added PNG support). Converting file types will just be a pain. (unless 
your browser doesn't support PNGs, then you are in trouble).

Regards,
Ali