Re: Frame 7 and DocBook

["Jeremy H. Griffith" <jeremy@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 23:19:25 -0400, Dottie <Dottie@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>This is such a stupid question but I need a confirmation that I'm not 
>totally out of my mind--or maybe I am.

Nope.  ;-)

>I've got a structured document. Structured according to a certain style 
>that we use. I want to create a DTD for the authors. I'm being told that I 
>can't do this because --
>
>"DocBook defines the structure. It says there must be a body, and headers, 
>and sections, and chapters, etc. and they all must be done in a certain 
>way. It defines the relationships between entities and what data can go where."
>
>So, there's no alternative to their structure?

No, you certainly *can* use a different DTD.  I'm currently
involved with DITA:
  http://xml.coverpages.org/dita.html
for example, and another listmember here, Kay Ethier, runs 
a list just for using Frame with that:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/framemaker-dita/

Frame has a good deal of built-in support for DocBook, and
if you use something else you have many miles to go before
you sleep.  For example, you will need to create your own
EDD with read/write rules, a nontrivial task.  But you most
certainly can use any valid DTD you want.  The main advantage
of using one of the "standards", like DocBook, DITA, or TEI,
is the availability of transformation tools for it.  If you
use something else, you'll need to create your own.  OTOH,
there are definite advantages to having a DTD that fits your
business case.  You just have to decide if the benefits are
worth the costs, as usual.

-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
  <jeremy@xxxxxxxxx>  http://www.omsys.com/

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