Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 23:24:58 -0800 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@u.washington.edu> Cc: FreeBSD-chat <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Why SGML for docs? Message-ID: <199811050724.XAA00456@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 04 Nov 1998 22:45:45 PST." <Pine.BSF.4.05.9811042239450.8286-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu>
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> I have seen that FreeBSD makes calls for SGML documentation. I know HTML > and it is easy and pretty powerful with HTML 4.0 and CSS. > > I took a peek and SGML and my hair turned white. My brief look at SGML led > me to think HTML is pretty good. I don't need to look at SGML. I am happy > with this small subset. > > What makes SGML useful for docs? Is it conversion tools for different > formats? Is it the power? It's the fact that no other toolset exists that's up to the job. > I guess the short question would be, "Why should I learn SGML?" You don't want to learn SGML unless you want to hack the doc tools. You want to learn the DTD that we're using (DocBook, the same one that ORA use for many of their books). Consider the relative merits of learning how to drive a car vs. how to make one from scratch from a pile of rusting sardine tins. The latter may make a driver out of you, and it'll teach you a lot about how the car goes together, but if all you want to do is go from A to B ... -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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