Re: real dumb frame/xml question

[Allen Schaaf <soundbyte@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

02:33 AM 2/18/02 - Studio Smalbro wrote:
>I know this question is really stupid, but nevertheless: why doesn't
>Framemaker have an "import as xml" filter?
>Is it because there are some features in xml which won't translate right
>into Framemaker... or some such thing ?
>regards
>Bjørn

Having been struggling with this issue for a long time I can tell you that 
XML needs to be converted to HTML as XML has no, that's right, no inherent 
tag definitions.  They are in the XS(L)T or you can use CSS for this and 
then find a rendering engine that will handle the mess.

XML is not really ready for prime documentation time.  One person I know 
whose company committed to XML for CVS and engineering reasons had to throw 
out Frame and buy a $50k system with a server and four people to do the 
documentation - one to do the XSL, two to do the writing in notepad or the 
very primitive editor that came with the system, and one to do the 
outputting, a full time job.  But they did achieve true single source.

They get the engineer's notes from the CVS tree, they translate into 
English and structure - but not format - the documents, then output PDF, 
XHTML, XML or any other format they need including Word.

Nice, but pricey.


Allen Schaaf
Technical writing
<soundbyte@sound-by-design.com>

Despite direct awareness of what competition does to people..., some 
individuals persist in claiming that its effects are constructive.  This is 
a powerful example of how it is possible to adjust our beliefs so as to 
escape the threatening realization that we have been subjecting ourselves 
to something terrible, that we have internalized a corrosive personality 
attribute.
         Alfie Kohn
         "NO CONTEST - The Case Against Competition"


** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **