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>1. There are more data wranglers overall than document
>wranglers at the level of the frameworks where XML
>is applied/developed (database islands, messaging, etc)
Point taken.
>2. People doing documents tend to favor HTML where
>all of the more important rendering and address/location
>issues have been resolved (Save As HTML, compile HTML Help, etc).
It depends. For repurposing of content for both print and electronic,
SGML/XML
certainly provides more flexibility and functionality. At the company I work
for, HTML is just one of many output formats; the publishing database is
SGML (or XML). In fact, on the web, HTML provides the viewable format, but
the search function runs against the XML in the background.
>2. Dare isn't intimately involved with the documentation
>folks.
As one of my former English professors used to say: "Let that pass..." :-)
>My impression is that the database folks are more involved
>in the server side antics of the web, and that XML exports
>from document (say WYSIWYG) systems are still rare. They
>weren't numerous for SGML either, were pricey, and tended to
>be installed only in very large organizations with either
>contractural requirements (say CALS) or very long lifecycle
>documents (say aerospace).
A number of publishing houses (legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technical,
and so forth) make use of SGML/XML database publishing systems as well. I
agree that most of the ones I know of are larger organizations (or owned by
larger organizations). My main point is that there have been numerous folks
publishing/creating documents in SGML for some years who have simply not
seen the ROI value in switching wholesale to XML -- *yet*. But media-neutral
"document-centric" markup certainly exists and cannot be discounted as
unimportant in the grand scheme of things. As tools and vendor support
shifts more toward XML, we will undoubtedly see more SGML folks make the
switch as well (my company is leaning that direction now, as are others I
know of).
Well, I've probably stuck my neck out far enough for now. :-)
____________________________________
Douglas Rudder drudder@drugfacts.com
"Beam me up, Scotty." -- Capt. James T. Kirk
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