[ut.general] looking for info on SGML

jonah@csri.toronto.edu (Jeff Lee) (01/27/89)

I am looking for some descriptive information on SGML.  In
particular, one of the following documents would be most
helpful:

	American national Standars Institute,
	Information Processing--Text and Office Systems--
	Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML),
	ISO 8879-1986(E), ANSI, New York, 1986.

	Association of American Publishers,
	Standar for Electronic Manuscript Preparation and
	Markup, Electronic Manuscript Series, Association
	of Ammerican Publishres, Washington, D.C., Feb 1986.

If you have either of these, or a reasonable substitute, or
know where I could find it, please let me know.

j.

ludo@sq.uucp (Ludo VanVooren) (01/27/89)

In article <8901262340.AA05602@ellesmere.csri.toronto.edu> jonah@csri.toronto.edu (Jeff Lee) writes:
>I am looking for some descriptive information on SGML.
>
>	.....[Stuff Deleted].......
>
>If you have either of these, or a reasonable substitute, or
>know where I could find it, please let me know.
>

I would recommend that you contact the Graphic Communications Association. They
are regrouping *all* the publications on SGML. The contact at GCA is :

		Vivian Sanchez
		Graphic Communications Association
		1730 North Lynn Street, Suite 604
		Arlington, VA 22209-2085
		USA

		Tel : (703)841-8160

The books that you are looking for are available at GCA or directly from AAP. 
The address for AAP is :
		
		Association of American Publishers
		2005 Massachussets Avenue, NW
		Washington, DC 20036
		USA

		Tel : (202)232-3335

Here is some information about these publications.

- ISO 8879 Standard Generalized MarkUp Language.
	(If you don't know SGML, it is very important that you DO NOT start by
	reading the standard itself. This publication does not provide clear
	introduction or explanations about SGML. However, it is required if
	you intend to do any development using SGML.)

- Standard for Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup
	(The AAP standard in detail (i.e. the Document Type Declarations),
	including a very useful tutorial on SGML, how to read Document Type 
	Declarations, and the explanation of *these* Document Type Declarations
	in particular. For programmers.)

Some other good publications you may be interested in are :

- Author's Guide to Electronic Manuscript Preparation and MarkUp
	(This AAP book is for writers, not programmers: a good example of
	what exactly a user in a SGML environment has to be told, as distinct
	from what a programmer maintaining that environment has to know. A more
	detailed version of this Guide exists: "Reference Manual on Electronic
	Manuscript Preparation and Markup".)

- SGML: The User's Guide to ISO 8879
	(This is an excellent tool if you have to work with the Standard itself.
	This book contains 8 different index to ISO 8879, as well as a glossary.
	Knowing that the Standard does NOT have any of that, it makes you win
	a lot of time when you look for a particular information.)

- SGML: An Author's Guide to the SGML
	(This 352 pages book from Addison Wesley is available in the Bookshops.
	It is a detailed and practical user's guide to the author using SGML to 
	prepare manuscripts or other documents for output to typesetters or
	laser printers. No prior knowledge of computing or typography is 
	assumed. It is a suitable text for courses on generic coding and SGML
	within a printing or publishing course, and will appeal to technical and
	academic authors, publishers, printers and company in-house users of
	desktop publishing systems.)
	
I hope this information will be helpfull to you.

Ludo.

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