Something I would like to see

[Joshua Drake <poet@linuxports.com>]

One of the constant drawbacks for the LDP in getting new authors is the
requirement that they submit with SGML. We all know the benefits of SGML
but a lot of us tend to ignore the drawbacks. Some of these are:

Learning curve
Image handling (in linuxdoc)
Ease of editing - Most of us are very comfortable at the command line. A
lot of new - very intelligent Linux users are not.
Processing - SGML can be a pain to process and a pain to find errors in.

It's ugly

I suggest the following:

I would like to see the LDP start accepting more than SGML as a file
format. My personal taste would be Word Perfect. Why?

Word Perfect 8 has the ability to open just about any document format,
including Frame Maker.
It has the ability to save to HTML, Postcript, Text and RTF..

Wordperfect 9 has the ability to save to PDF, HTML, Text, and RTF.

They both run on Linux. Wordperfect is free.

They both have the ability to create internal linking and table of
contents. They both can handle just about every image format widely in
use.

I just don't believe that we can continue to grow the LDP without having
a simple way for people to contribute. People should be able to just
type something up in Wordperfect.(we could start accepting others as
their export filters become better... StarWriter is an example). They
can spell check with a single button. They can grammar check
(reasonably) with a single button. They can save to multiple formats
with a single button.

Am I suggesting that we dumb some stuff down? You're damn right. :)

Joshua Drake
--
<COMPANY>CommandPrompt  - http://www.commandprompt.com  </COMPANY>
<PROJECT>OpenDocs, LLC. - http://www.opendocs.org       </PROJECT>
<PROJECT>LinuxPorts     - http://www.linuxports.com     </PROJECT>
<WEBMASTER>LDP          - http://www.linuxdoc.org       </WEBMASTER>
--
Instead of asking why a piece of software is using "1970s technology,"
start asking why software is ignoring 30 years of accumulated wisdom.



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