[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Author Index (this month)][Thread Index (this month)][Top of Archive]

Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 157, Issue 14

Subject: Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 157, Issue 14
From: Mark Giffin <mgiffin -at- earthlink -dot- net>
To: Steven Jong <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net>, TECHWR-L Digest <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:11:56 -0800

Steven,

This might not be the XML editor but you could try changing the setting. (With XMetal it might not be a GUI setting, I think there is a config file that needs to change.) It could be that in the conversion from Vasont to SDL, extra spaces were added. Usually you have to export the files from one CCMS and import them into the next CCMS. Spaces at the end of paragraphs could have resulted from this export/import activity. If the XML editor change does not fix it, you can usually do a batch change in other ways.

By the way a DITA CCMS is a different beast from git. A CCMS is not a programmer's tool. Usually they have some kind of diff tool that shows changes between versions, but I don't recall any merge tools. You'd probably have to use something like Oxygen for that if you needed it.

Mark Giffin
Mark Giffin Consulting, Inc.
http://www.markgiffin.com/


On 23-Nov-18 7:14 AM, Steven Jong wrote:

Mark Giffin wrote:

There is a conflict between XML (including DITA) and source control programs like Git. XML by default does not care about white space like carriage returns, tabs, spaces, it works at a level above plain text. You can change a few spaces and carriage returns in a DITA XML file and there will be no validation errors from a DITA or XML viewpoint. An XML editor like XMetal or Oxygen or FrameMaker won't care. But those white space changes are noticed by git, which is set up to notice ANY change to a source code file, which is what programmers want.
When we moved from a Vasont CMS to SDL CMS, despite using the same editor (XMetaL) in both environments, I noticed that spaces began to appear at the end of every paragraph. I thought this was another writer doing it, and spent time contemplating whether this might somehow be a good typing practice just in case you wanted to add another sentence. No, I thought, this is dumb, and I started passive-aggressively removing them, but no, it was the softwareâthe spaces were reintroduced without anyone else touching the files. I caught myself before I went off the deep end (or, perhaps, just afterwards).

(No, fortunately, Git was not involved. No, it made no difference in the rendered output. Yes, it was passive-aggressive to change them back without asking if someone was introducing them. Yes, I was wasting effort.)

Iâll have to see if I can find the setting to turn this behavior off in future.

âSteve
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as mgiffin -at- earthlink -dot- net -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

References:
Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 157, Issue 14: From: Steven Jong

Previous by Author: Re: Git for Tech Pubs [was FW: L@@king for recommendations
Next by Author: RE: Standards on Using Graphics, Screen Captures, Illustrations, What-have-you In Doc
Previous by Thread: Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 157, Issue 14
Next by Thread: "How to avoid being a secretary for engineers"

[Top of Archive] | [Author Index (this month)] | [Thread Index (this month)]

What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:

Sponsored Ads