WYSIWYG editor for DocBook?

[Bob Johnson]

On 5/5/08, Joe Kraft <jvk-list at thekrafts.org> wrote:
[...]
> On the topic of editors, I'm wondering if there is a good editor that will
> show a final-ish product based on the tags.  Perferably one that would
> allow me to look at the tags directly also, but basically something that I
> could just select the style I want it to come out in.
>
[...]

By definition, you almost cannot have a WYSIWYG editor for DocBook,
because the final output depends on what medium (and what stylesheets)
you create the final output for (and with).

But I understand that's not exactly what you meant. When I worked with
DocBook, it was pretty easy to set up a tool chain that quickly built
output in various formats (HTML, RTF, etc.) so I could easily look at
the results. And if I had bothered to used 'make' it probably would
have been even easier (but that assumes you already have some comfort
with 'make'). Not quite the real-time display implied by "WYSIWYG",
but I found it entirely adequate.

It helps to use an editor that understands DocBook and won't let you
do anything not legal (and even better,  offers a list of legal
choices when asked). I mostly used KATE (in KDE), but it doesn't do
much -- you can do better.

Also be aware of whether any tools you are considering are designed
for SGML DocBook, or XML DocBook.

- Bob