Re: DOCBOOK-APPS: A perspective on DocBook and DSSSL

Richard Sharpe writes:
 > I have managed to get DocBook/DSSSL to do a lot of the things I want, and
 > wonder if XSLT or other approaches will be better for me?
...
 > I have separate title pages for each chapter/section with a black block
 > with a white section number on it, with branding graphics on the front page
 > of each section.
easy enough

 > I have a separate title page for the book, with everything starting on the
 > correct pages.
ditto

 > I have headers and footers with underbars and over bars mostly working,
 > with different footers on recto and verso pages so that you can read the
 > string across the spine of book when it is layed open.
most XSL FO implementations will do this OK

 > I have problems in the headers and footers which appear to be related to
 > TeX/JadeTeX interactions. Sometimes they just do funny things.
:-}

 > I want to use multiple columns or tables on title pages so I can align
 > graphics and text with each other.
thats going to be amusing with DSSSL or XSL FO....

 > I do not understand yet how to maintain version numbers of documents
 > automatically?
surely not a DSSSL or FO issue?

 > So, I wonder if I can do all this easily with XSL?
in theory

 > I also wonder what the learning curve is?
if you grok DSSSL, its easy

sebastian