Comments inline..
-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:] On Behalf Of Chris
Chiasson
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 8:51 AM
To: Johnson, Eric
Cc:
Subject: Re: [docbook] Add topic element to DocBook?
I haven't checked this, but I think section is not allowed as a root
element. This means that documents beginning with <section> will
require a DocBook schema customization to validate. I have had this
problem with documents that begin with <equation>.
Maybe it would be better if someone who actually wants <topic> to
make
a case for it?
>>>>>
RAJAL ->
Topic - as we're discussing here - is a
semantically meaningful standalone piece of content..
It greatly facilitates modular writing,
where we're not just focused on books but individual units of information.. The
style of writing in the book changes from being a single flow from beginning-to-end
to instead be a collection of topics.. This allows organizations (I work at
Juniper), to provide their content in book form as well as searchable topics on
the web or for re-use of content elsewhere.
Does that make a high-level case for having
<topic>?
Having said that, once we move to the
topic world, people will need have the need for their own topic types.. For e.g.
at Juniper we have: <command-summary>, <verification-task>,
<example>, <procedure>, <trouble-shooting> etc.. The reason
is that once we agree on the idea of standalone topics/modular writing,
semantically meaningful topic elements and their structure gets important for
authors - who are now assigned to topics and not be a book-owner as such.. I am
hoping that DocBook can standardize some of them too at some point.. J
Regards.
--
Rajal
