Re: [FrameSGML] Re: [FM+SGML] Forcing an attribute to have avalue

[Mark Barratt <markb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>   There is no reason for the r/w rules to provide this much
> capability. After all, the FDK already provides a general-purpose
> programming language interface into FM+SGML during import and
> export. Nevertheless, there is a middle ground between arbitrary
> processing and a direct everything in the SGML document must
> correspond exactly to something of the same structure in
> the FM+SGML representation. 

The logic is good. The problem is, as you say, where to draw the line. I
think my primary skills - like a lot of Frame users - are as a writer
and - like not so many - as a typographic designer. I use Frame to make
documents for paper and screen which are fit for purpose. Inevitably and
increasingly, that means understanding and controlling the way the
software behaves, which means in turn knowing some stuff that seems to
me esoteric and complex.

That's OK: documents and media are complicated, and making them work for
the user is what I do. But I'm not a programmer, and the bar for people
like me to dealing with 'real' software is pretty high. A chance
encounter in the (astonishingly good, IMHO) FM+SGML Developer's Guide
with a reference to a number being expressed 'in C syntax' led to a
half-hour of panicky research. I have *no idea* how 'C' works.

I can deal with the kind of 'programming' represented by the Frame
read/write rules or by bending EDDs to my will. The interfaces are
beautifully designed and extremely well-documented. When I get to the
parts of the Developer's Guide that say 'you can use an SGML API client
to change these behaviours' my heart sinks because I assume I can't. To
learn it, I don't just have to learn how FM manipulates documents, but
also go and do a Comp Sci course?

Specific question: what's the FDK learning curve like for someone like
me?

General question: how could the power of Frame be made more readily
accessible to document designers?

Mark Barratt
Text Matters
phone +44 (0)118 986 8313
fax +44 (0)118 931 3743
email markb@textmatters.com
web http://www.textmatters.com

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