[DOC-SIG] Documentation formats

[Paul Prescod]

>    IMO in an ideal world, people would author documentation in a modern
>    word processor like Frame or Word and people could share
>    documentation files using some neutral format.  I don't know if
>    such a neutral format exists, although I seem to remember that at
>    one point, Frame had a tool for working with SGML in Framemaker.
>    I don't know what happened with that tool, but if it is still around, 
>    maybe people who hate editing SGML could use Frame or some other
> format
>    that supports SGML and other folks could hack SGML or use tools that
>    convert between their favorite editing environment and SGML.

That's right.

There are more tools for allowing you to create SGML documents without
typeing tags than there are for TeX, LaTeX and TIM. For a while I worked
in the source code bowels of one (extending it, not creating it). And
because SGML is an international standard, there are always more tools being
created that allow you do so.

Still, in the interest in truth in advertising, I should mention that in
my opinion, the idea that you will one day just create documents in a WYSIWYG
editor without worrying about the structure is a fantasy. Computers cannot
infer structure. The user interface must reflect the structure that you 
want in your SGML files. If you want elements like "class", "method", 
and "hyperlink", then you must be aware of their availability.

 Paul Prescod


_______________
DOC-SIG  - SIG for the Python Documentation Project

send messages to: doc-sig@python.org
administrivia to: doc-sig-request@python.org
_______________