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Standard Generalised Mark-up Language, or
SGML, is a language to define document types.
For instance, one may define the document type recipe, with a
first part presenting the ingredients, a second part introducing the
accessories, a third part giving step by step instructions for baking
the cake, and a nice final picture to show the outcome of it all.
This is called a Document Type Definition.
It does not define what the final product will look like, it only defines
what it may contain.
To use the same example again, I'm sure that upon reading my idea
of a recipe, you recognised yours, or your favourite cook's. Nevertheless,
they actually look different: mine have a picture in the upper left corner of
the bathroom cupboard, and the ingredients list can be found in the back
garden, between the swimming pool and the barbecue. Yours?
Thanks to this standard definition, one can write a document,
without taking into account what it will look like in the end to
the reader.
This type is used to write, as you might have guessed,
documents related to Linux.
Such documents are generally built as follows: they start with a title
followed by the name of the author, and the version number and
date. Then comes the abstract (so you don't have to browse through it
before realizing it isn't what you were looking for after all),
then the contents which show the
structure so that those in a rush can go directly to the part they
want to read.
Then comes a list of chapters, sections, paragraphs. Among these, one
can insert bits of programs, change the font to emphasise a word or a
sentence, insert lists, refer to another part of the document, etc.
To write such a document, you just need to specify at the right time
the title, the author, the date, and the document version, the chapters
and sections, say when a list is to be inserted, what its elements are
etc.
SGML-Tools will turn the specification of a document into
the final result in the form you prefer. If you want it in your personal
library, you will choose PostScript. If you want to share it with
the world through the Web, it will be HTML. If you can't help it
and must read it under Windows, you can turn it into RTF to be
able to read it with any word processor. Or maybe use all three formats
to accommodate your changing moods.
SGML-Tools are available via anonymous FTP at
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/sgml-tools/
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