SST: using single-sourcing, SGML, and teamwork for documentation

ABSTRACT

Suppose you don't have a fancy database-driven system to generate your documentation. How can you develop single-source documentation for output in multiple formats, without having to store your source in a specific format that will soon become obsolete? The answer is to use a combination of your own SGML or XML tags to mark up your documentation and a simple OmniMark® program to create each output format and presentation style. There's also a third ingredient: teamwork. As much as any technology, you need a team that can manage itself, in which everyone is willing to take tasks from someone who's overloaded. At OmniMark Technologies, we developed documentation for a new product, SureSpeed, using an SGML system we designed and short programs we wrote in OmniMark. The teamwork came from innovative and co-operative individuals who made up the OmniMark documentation team.

REFERENCES

• 1: Bosak, John, and Bray, Tim, "XML and the Second- Generation Web" in Scientific American, May, 1999, pp. 89- 93.
• 2: Damell, Rick, Baker, Mark, et al. HTML 4 Unleashed, 2"d Edition, SAMS, Indianapolis, IN, 1999,453-469.
• 3: Travis, Brian E., UmniMurk ut Work, SGML University Press, Denver, CO, 1997.
• 4: Vint, Danny R., SGML af Work, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ 1999.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement
          Subjects: Documentation

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.2 Document Preparation

          Nouns: HTML; SGML

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Languages, Management, Performance, Theory

Keywords:
HTML, SGML, XML, print, single-source, teamwork