Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2003 7:08 pm Post subject: [Asterisk-doc] Just a friendly hello - also: LATEX or DocBo
Figured I better get myself subscribed to this list. Not sure who all
is out there, but hi!
I'm hoping to work on some docs this weekend. During the week isn't
very good for me as I like to be able to sit down and work on it for a
few hours. Should have a chance on Saturday or Sunday sometime to try
and get the documentation all caught up to where it should be.
I would also like a vote on whether to use LATEX or DocBook
Right now we have working copies in DocBook and LATEX. rajo from
#asterisk-doc nicely converted the DocBook to LATEX to give me an idea
of how it works.
I know jsmith spent a bunch of time on DocBook, but since its the
beginning of the project, now would be a good time to decide on a
format.
Now, the thing I have a problem with LATEX is that it seems very
Linux'y, and DocBook seems to be less platform dependent. Comments?
I would also like a vote on whether to use LATEX or DocBook
Hmm... vote or flamewar ;)
=20
=20
Quote:
Now, the thing I have a problem with LATEX is that it seems very
Linux'y, and DocBook seems to be less platform dependent. Comments?
Well, depends what you mean of "Linux'y" and "platform independent":
- Both are plain ascii and can so be edited even with edit.com of=20
good old DOS.
- I don't know much about docbook and thus not if s.th. like
db2pdf also exists for windows, but what I can say is that
with cygwin (www.cygwin.com) you also have the possibility
to use both latex and cvs from windows.
- Both achieve the same goals: producing documentation for=20
electronic publishing via ps/pdf=20
- Docbook uses XML which is IMO way overload and with all those
tags much more uncomfortable to keep track of the hierarchy
or nested things.
- Latex is ... well Latex :) It is different and perhaps from
the first point of view not that "easy" as Docbook which
obviously resembles well known Html etc.=20
But Latex isn't difficult either - it's just a different
syntax but it is the same principle: Document description
language.
- Latex has some "specialities" like the need for escaping
special characters and it's styles where the whole=20
page layout etc gets defined (but the latter is equal
with docbook).=20
But if you know it, it is quite easy and well working with.
- As Latex has been around for a while there's plenty of=20
documentation/tutorials/tricks/tips out there.
- Latex can quite easy split a document over different files
which makes it comfortable for larger documents
- Every good editor provides a Latex mode with appropriate
syntax highlighting.
- One can do quite a bunch of things with Latex and pstricks
=20
As one might already have guessed, I'm someone who likes
Latex very much :)=20
First of all because of the features, but to be honest also
of the fact that I'm used to it and quite lazy to change
a running system...
I would also like a vote on whether to use LATEX or DocBook
I know how to use Latex and I don't want to learn DocBook.
Quote:
Now, the thing I have a problem with LATEX is that it seems very
Linux'y, and DocBook seems to be less platform dependent. Comments?
Well you have to get used to it. But it's IMO not that
difficult. IMO Latex is easier to read than DocBook because there
are less tags. In Latex you don't have to use closing tags for
chapters for example. IMO it's obvious that when there is a
\section-tag the old section ends here. In DocBook you would have to
say that explicitly.
Another thing is, that Latex is AFAIK more powerfull than
DocBook. DocBook files are converted to Latex before ps or pdf files
are created. Of course that's not a problem for us cause I don't think
we will reach the limits of DocBook. :)
I don't want to say that Latex is always better than DocBook. I only
like Latex better.
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