Chapter 1. Getting Started with DocBook Publishers

For more than a decade, DocBook has provided a structured markup vocabulary for hardware and software documentation. DocBook is now widely used in both commercial and Open Source environments. DocBook has a very broad element set, and applies to much more than just technical documentation. The DocBook TC is engaged in evolving the suite of DocBook specifications. The community benefits from having a standard, open, interchangeable vocabulary in which to write structured content. DocBook has been, and will continue to be, designed to satisfy this requirement.

The OASIS DocBook Schema for Publishers is an official variant of DocBook v5.x, specifically designed to support the publishing industry. Publications that the schema is designed to support includes (but is not limited to): periodicals as regularly published technical notes or journals, book publishing (such as business, legal, medical, and other non-technical domains), educational textbooks and other document types as appropriate for this industry.

Based on DocBook V5.0, the DocBook Publishers schema is normatively available as a RELAX NG Schema (with some additional Schematron assertions). Of the 361 total elements in the full DocBook standard, the Publishers schema has been simplified to exclude 149 elements from full DocBook. Modifications have been made to 11 patterns from the DocBook schema. Additions to the schema include: the Dublin Core metadata elements (54) and 6 new elements.