Re: Multiplatform toolchain for outputting "nice" PDF
Kevin Dunn <[email protected]> Mon, 14 Nov 2022 18:51:59 +0000
| Newsgroups | gmane.text.docbook.apps |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <SN4PR0801MB78881602024E51B1BD5EBECCA2059@SN4PR0801MB7888.namprd08.prod.outlook.com> |
--_000_SN4PR0801MB78881602024E51B1BD5EBECCA2059SN4PR0801MB7888_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable As someone who made a similar update, I can provide some perspective. Much = of your tool chain may be old, but it's actually "mature," not "outdated." = The most limiting element of your tool chain is likely fop. When I migrated= from dsssl and jadeTeX to an xsl tool chain, I considered fop alongside An= tenna House Formatter and RenderX XEP. As much as I like and admire free to= ols like fop, the commercial xsl-fo engines are superior. Each of them is a= vailable on multiple platforms, and each has a free demo version for evalua= tion purposes. The quality of your output may also be much improved by adding a customizat= ion layer to the xsl stylesheets. http://www.sagehill.net/docbookxsl/ is a = great resource for customization. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg> ________________________________ From: Jean-Christophe Helary <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 14, 2022, 11:16 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [docbook-apps] Multiplatform toolchain for outputting "nice" PDF For some historical reasons (and maybe others, I don't know), the tool chai= n used in the project where I'm in charge of the manual uses a very outdate= d tool chain based on the following elements: =95 DocBook XSL Stylesheets 1.75.2 ("dbk") or above =95 DocBook XML 4.5 ("docbook-xml-4.5") =95 fop 1.1 ("fop-1.1") =95 libxml2 2-2.7.7 ("libxml2-2.7.7") =95 Saxon 6-5-5 ("saxon") =95 XMLmind Web Help Compiler ("whc") =95 Ant 1.7.1 or above ("apache-ant") I'm still investigating the reasons why we're stuck 15 years in the past, b= ut I'd like to move on. Currently, the PDF that's built from our DocBook set is, not visually pleas= ant, to say the least. There are few contributors to the documentation but ideally I'd like someth= ing that works equally well on the three major platforms that are Linux / W= indows and macOS. A friend of mine who also is a DITA specialist converted the set to DITA an= d semi-automatically produced a really nice PDF and there are no reasons wh= y we would not be able to have something equally nice with a modern DocBook= toolchain. So the question is, what are the options? Thank you in advance for your help. -- Jean-Christophe Helary @brandelune https://traductaire-libre.org https://mac4translators.blogspot.com https://sr.ht/~brandelune/omegat-as-a-book/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] --_000_SN4PR0801MB78881602024E51B1BD5EBECCA2059SN4PR0801MB7888_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head> <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3DWindows-1= 252"> </head> <body> <div style=3D"color: rgb(33, 33, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);= " dir=3D"auto"> As someone who made a similar update, I can provide some perspective. Much = of your tool chain may be old, but it's actually "mature," not &q= uot;outdated." The most limiting element of your tool chain is likely = fop. When I migrated from dsssl and jadeTeX to an xsl tool chain, I considered fop alongside Antenna House Formatter and RenderX= XEP. As much as I like and admire free tools like fop, the commercial xsl-= fo engines are superior. Each of them is available on multiple platforms, a= nd each has a free demo version for evaluation purposes.</div> <div style=3D"color: rgb(33, 33, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);= " dir=3D"auto"> <br> </div> <div style=3D"color: rgb(33, 33, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);= " dir=3D"auto"> The quality of your output may also be much improved by adding a customizat= ion layer to the xsl stylesheets. http://www.sagehill.net/docbookxsl/ is a = great resource for customization.</div> <div style=3D"color: rgb(33, 33, 33); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);= " dir=3D"auto"> <br> </div> <div id=3D"ms-outlook-mobile-signature" dir=3D"auto">Sent from my Verizon, = Samsung Galaxy smartphone<br> Get <a href=3D"https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg">Outlook for Android</a> <div id=3D"mail-editor-reference-message-container" dir=3D"auto"><br> <hr style=3D"display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex=3D"-1"> <div id=3D"divRplyFwdMsg" style=3D"font-size: 11pt;"><strong>From:</strong>= Jean-Christophe Helary <[email protected]><br> <strong>Sent:</strong> Monday, November 14, 2022, 11:16 AM<br> <strong>To:</strong> [email protected] <docbook-apps@lis= ts.oasis-open.org><br> <strong>Subject:</strong> [docbook-apps] Multiplatform toolchain for output= ting "nice" PDF<br> </div> <br> <meta name=3D"Generator" content=3D"Microsoft Exchange Server"> <!-- converted from text --><font size=3D"2"><span style=3D"font-size:11pt;= "> <div class=3D"PlainText">For some historical reasons (and maybe others, I d= on't know), the tool chain used in the project where I'm in charge of the m= anual uses a very outdated tool chain based on the following elements:<br> <br> =95 DocBook XSL Stylesheets 1.75.2 ("dbk") or above<br> =95 DocBook XML 4.5 ("docbook-xml-4.5")<br> =95 fop 1.1 ("fop-1.1")<br> =95 libxml2 2-2.7.7 ("libxml2-2.7.7")<br> =95 Saxon 6-5-5 ("saxon")<br> =95 XMLmind Web Help Compiler ("whc")<br> =95 Ant 1.7.1 or above ("apache-ant")<br> <br> I'm still investigating the reasons why we're stuck 15 years in the past, b= ut I'd like to move on.<br> <br> Currently, the PDF that's built from our DocBook set is, not visually pleas= ant, to say the least.<br> <br> There are few contributors to the documentation but ideally I'd like someth= ing that works equally well on the three major platforms that are Linux / W= indows and macOS.<br> <br> A friend of mine who also is a DITA specialist converted the set to DITA an= d semi-automatically produced a really nice PDF and there are no reasons wh= y we would not be able to have something equally nice with a modern DocBook= toolchain.<br> <br> So the question is, what are the options?<br> <br> Thank you in advance for your help.<br> <br> <br> -- <br> Jean-Christophe Helary @brandelune<br> <a href=3D"https://traductaire-libre.org">https://traductaire-libre.org</a>= <br> <a href=3D"https://mac4translators.blogspot.com">https://mac4translators.bl= ogspot.com</a><br> <a href=3D"https://sr.ht/~brandelune/omegat-as-a-book/">https://sr.ht/~bran= delune/omegat-as-a-book/</a><br> <br> <br> ---------------------------------------------------------------------<br> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected]<br> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]<br> <br> </div> </span></font><br> </div> </div> </body> </html> --_000_SN4PR0801MB78881602024E51B1BD5EBECCA2059SN4PR0801MB7888_--