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RE: Authorship
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Preckshot [mailto:garrell@inreach.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 5:21 PM
> To: Gregory Leblanc
> Subject: Re: Authorship
>
> Gregory Leblanc wrote:
>
> A very balanced reply, Greg.
Thanks. I realize that I'm strong worded, but that's the only way to get my
point across, and the best way to do that <emphasis>I</emphasis> think is
best for the LDP. There are places where I agree, and others where I don't.
If we always agreed, then there wouldn't be any point, would there?
> Apropos vi, I don't like it because it's a mode editor. If
> you forget which mode
> you're in, or don't look, you end up typing a nonsense
> command. I really hate
> "powerful" editors, Windows or Linux. Part of the reason is I
> have MS, and
> inadvertently strike keys I don't mean to. I hate it when the
> editor goes off and
> does something weird.
I tend to agree, but there are some people who like things that way. I
don't really have a problem with that sort of thing, because I use DocBook
for everything.
> As for emacs, the X-Windows version is far better than the
> terminal version. Its
> help really, really sucks.
Help does suck, but the tutorial is enough to get you started using it, and
I've got some quick reference cards that I got from TechRepublic that are
good for newbies. Using the X version, I haven't needed help, I find things
the same way that I would under any other editor, I go through the menus.
Emacs is at least smart enough to have dynamic menu names.
> Only if you know the name can you
> look it up. But then
> you don't need to. We really need some graphics of emacs
> working. I did the WP
> graphics almost without effort. That's a sign that something
> is way easier to
> use.
Hmm... I guess I can get some graphics of Emacs in action. We need to
create a .emacs file to distribute to people who want to use Emacs. I've
got the one from Frederick (KDE guru, I think), but it's only the best one,
it's missing some things that I want. I destroyed my Linux at home so I'm
hesitant to work on that too much from here.
> I also figured out the basic structure of DocBook just
> using WP without any
> help from the HOWTO-HOWTO. That's a sign it needs major
> modification. It should
> be a one-stop place for authors to get everything. One thing
> it shouldn't do,
> which it does now, is confuse authors by talking about stuff
> the LDP is leaving
> behind.
I'd like to see any mention of Linuxdoc left out, but some people don't seem
to think that's a good idea. I'd like to see us "legacy" that system, and
keep it around just for people who already know it. This will become MUCH
easier once the LDP has a machine that we can give accounts on, so that
people don't have/want to figure out the tools can still do work. All
that's needed on an authors machine (IMO) is an editor, a validating parser,
and a copy of the DTD. Anything else is just extras. Actually, I never
look at any of the output from my documents, I just work directly on the
DocBook. If somebody doesn't like how it looks, they can ask, and maybe
we'll get the dsl changed. This may sound strange, but I don't care what my
document looks like, if you don't like how it looks, tell the people who
write the stylesheets. I'm NEVER going to markup based on appearance.
> BTW, this discussion is healthy and long overdue. When I
> first got on this forum,
> it was obvious that all I could do is irritate people of long-standing
> membership. I was pretty sure I was right, but I had nothing
> to demonstrate it.
> Now I've taken Mark's howto and rewritten it with a tool that
> he wrote off. It
> has graphics where it had none before. You may not agree with
> me, but you can't
> shrug off an SGML fait accompli.
I agree that we should have been doing this for a while, but I haven't had
the time or motivation to work on the HOWTO-HOWTO (I've sent a few changes
to Mark, but nothing on this scale). I'm not entirely sure that I like your
version better, but your intentions are good, and your ideas are good.
Actually, I'm really glad that we have some "new blood" that's not afraid to
ruffle some feathers, and I'm glad to see more of some of the "old hats"
here as well. Definately a good time for the LDP. Yay us! 8^)
Greg
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