 | Level: Intermediate Contributors: OASIS 06 Feb 2007
Updated 25 Apr 2007 DocBook, an XML (and SGML) application for authoring
technical books and documentation, has been around more than most XML
formats. Read about the history of this format, and discover another,
simpler version.
DocBook
was originally a popular Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML) format for authoring books and documentation,
especially those of a more technical nature. An XML version was added,
and
DocBook
[OASIS Standard] is currently in version 4.x, with
a version 5 in development. The popular DocBook has impressive support
in tools, many of which are quite mature. It is well respected for being
a good example of how to avoid mixing presentation considerations into
content formats. Recently, some developers have grumbled about how much
baggage it still carries from all its older versions, and there has been
a good deal of talk (even by Norm Walsh, one of its key developers)
about starting afresh with a new, non-backward-compatible version of the
format. The Simplified DocBook version tries to reduce the tag
load without straying too far in the basic framework.
Resources
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