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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Translators wishlist items (Was: UTF-8 again)
From:       gordon.machel () t-online ! de (Gordon Machel)
Date:       2001-08-07 20:13:55
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Am Montag, 6. August 2001 23:35 schrieb Ralf Nolden:
>
> I'd be very much in favour of an XML-docwriting tool for docbook. Writing
> docs is and was a pain, now with KDE switching completely to docbook xml,
> you enter a new learning curve for developers. years ago, linuxdoc sgml was
> pretty easy to use with reading a two-page manual where only one page
> mattered, which was the tags for lists, numbered lists, a link to a page
> with special characters like "@ etc., how to write explanation lists and
> the sectioning stuff for chapters, subchapters etc. The linuxdoc docs were
> so easy that it was actually fun to write even large books with them,
> especially when you see the output in ps after converting.  So what I'm
> basically trying to say is, offer an editor, maybe a plugin for kate, that
> displays the xml tree like the xml-explorer does (see apps.kde.com) or like
> KTexMaker2 does, so you can go to the chapters easily. References are a
> pain as well because you need a place where you have all the references you
> add listed. Usually you only do them once in the text, a place of the
> target reference and the reference in the text. The next reference where it
> would make good sense isn't done because you don't remember where it
> actually was and what you called it. Lauri also mentioned auto-completion
> by the xml tags, so you get a window offering only what's valid within that
> particular xml tag you're writing in, so basically interpreting the DTD
> rules for you and showing you what you can/have to fill in. The special
> characters could need a pickboard with key accels or whatever, so you don't
> have to remember all of them.

I second that. From the perspective of a third-party developer, writing the 
documentation is really a PITA. Currently, I'm spending more time figuring 
out how things actually work, than doing development. What's worse, one is 
writing the documentation against a moving target. My docbook file, which 
worked perfectly in KDE 2.1, suddenly breaks in KDE 2.2.  It would be nice to 
get at least a little announcement of some sort when larger changes were made 
(or did I miss something?).

Gordon

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