DocBook
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[edit] Introduction
The DocBook Project supports the open-source development of a variety of DocBook resources; in particular, the DocBook XSL stylesheets.
DocBook is an XML vocabulary that lets you create documents in a presentation-neutral form that captures the logical structure of your content. Using free tools along with the DocBook XSL stylesheets, you can publish your content as HTML pages and PDF files, and in many other formats.
DocBook provides a system for writing structured documents using SGML or XML. It is particularly well-suited to books and papers about computer hardware and software, though it is by no means limited to them.
DocBook is almost 10 years old. It began in 1991 as a joint project of HaL Computer Systems and O'Reilly. Its popularity grew, and eventually it spawned its own maintenance organization, the Davenport Group. In mid-1998, it became a Technical Committee (TC) of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
In short, DocBook is an easy-to-understand and widely used DTD. Dozens of organizations use DocBook for millions of pages of documentation, in various print and online formats, worldwide.
More detailed information is online: DocBook 5.0: The Definitive Guide
[edit] Prerequisites
Makefiles: Processing DocBook with the XSL stylesheets may require several steps and options. If you have to run the commands often, you can save typing by using a make utility to execute the commands for you. If you are familiar with the Java Ant utility, you can use it instead for similar purposes.
XSL servers: Once you have learned how to process DocBook documents into HTML and PDF output, you may want to take the automation a step further. You can set up an HTTP server environment in which DocBook documents are processed on demand when they are requested by a user from their web browser. The server selects and applies a stylesheet, and may even run an XSL-FO processor to deliver fully formatted PDF documents. This permits you to keep an active repository of documents in source form, and they are rendered for delivery only when requested.
[edit] How accessed/used
DocBook enables the author to store document content in a presentation-neutral form that captures the logical structure of the content. Using free tools along with the DocBookStylesheets from the DocBookProject and related resources, you can transform, format, and publish content as HTML pages and PDF files, and in many other DocBookOutputFormats, including Microsoft HTMLHelp, UNIX man pages, JavaHelp, TeX, TeXinfo, and RTF. (Free tools are also available to do "up conversion" of other formats such as man pages, HTML, Javadoc, plain text, Texinfo, and OpenOffice Writer documents to DocBook.)
