Re: Conversion of Word documents to structured frame documents

[Marcus Carr <mrc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan Emory wrote:

> The ideal solution (which I'm exploring) would be to develop a complete
> FM+SGML application pack for RTF-DOC, using the SEMA tools for round-trip
> conversions between XML/SGML and RTF.

I spend half my time convincing people that trying to round trip between SGML and
anything unstructured is basically a waste of time - why do you feel it would be so
valuable? The thought of the maintenence of such a system alone gives me a headache.

> But if the RTF-DOC DTD becomes a de facto standard, the SEMA toolset could
> very well result in the demise of FM+SGML, since MS-Weird, rather than
> FM+SGML, would provide a viable authoring and print engine for structured docs.

Not really - it's unlikely that users would author in one application, save the
file, fire a process, open the resulting file in another application, then validate
just to find errors. In my experience, users want interactive tools that guide them
through the structure and validate on command, not a kludged-together system. Within
the first five minutes, most would ask "Why don't we just author in
FrameMaker+SGML?"

> The tepid XML export capability in FM+SGML 5.5.6, combined with the fact
> that it can't import XML docs, shows that Adobe can't seem to keep up with
> the rapid pace of XML evolution. That fact suggests that the use of
> third-party conversion tools such as SEMA's is where the future lies if
> FM+SGML has a chance of surviving.

Whoa, steady on - what's "tepid" about the export? Why can't it import XML? All you
have to do is provide an SGML declaration that makes the XML syntax valid SGML (I
can provide one if you like). Adobe's XML development is light years ahead of any
other XML editor - I put it at the top of the heap, bar none. Can you cite
applications that are better or more conformant? What is it lacking that you need
now?

> The holy grail of fully successful round-trip conversions between FrameMaker
> and Word (or between FrameMaker and RTF) seems to be unattainable, as the
> many postings on this subject confirm. And that's going to result in the
> demise of FrameMaker as well as FM+SGML unless a solution is forthcoming.

I have no idea what makes you think that round tripping is the "holy grail".
Asserting that a continued inability to round trip with Word will "result in the
demise of FrameMaker as well as FM+SGML" is absurd.

> Perhaps something like the SEMA toolset is the lifeboat we've all been
> seeking. Documents that must be round-tripped between FrameMaker and Word
> would be created in FM+SGML using the RTF-DOC DTD. In that case, FM+SGML's
> superior capability as an authoring tool for long structured documents could
> be fully exploited. When such documents must be converted to Word, edited,
> and then converted back to structured docs that FM+SGML can open, the SEMA
> toolset (or something like it) would carry out the round-trip conversions.

It will never work. I have done more conversions to/from RTF than I could count, and
I have yet to see one dataset that works without intervention. Users will break the
rules, either maliciously or because they don't understand them, but a structured
environment removes the ambiguity. If you want to round trip, I suggest you look
into some of the various bolt-ons for Word to create SGML documents - unless you
have structure at the source, the data will require work.


--
Regards,

Marcus Carr                      email:  mrc@allette.com.au
___________________________________________________________________
Allette Systems (Australia)      www:    http://www.allette.com.au
___________________________________________________________________
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
       - Einstein



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