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RE: [xsl] XSLT Programmer's Reference 4th edition

2008-04-13 07:01:26
Content for Wiley/Wrox is created in Word templates, I used 
Word 2007 for the last batch I wrote, so in theory it could 
be converted from Word's tortuous XML into another format.

Yes: but there are 1001 page-number cross references (I counted them) and
there's nothing in the Word master to indicate where they should point to,
or even to mark them as page cross-references: unbelievable as it may seem,
these were edited in by hand after the final pagination.

I don't want to criticize Wiley, because I think this is probably typical of
so many systems in large organizations, publishers not excepted: a legacy
system that does the job it was designed to do, and is so complex that it's
very hard to make improvements let alone replace it with something new. It's
not even all in one company, of course: many processes such as indexing and
creation of eBooks is outsourced to suppliers, and this also makes it harder
to change processes. It is noticeable, however, that the old Wrox Press,
being much smaller, had much more flexibility to innovate in its production
processes.

Anyway, I don't think readers of the book will notice whether or not the
production processes were efficient or not. I think you'll appreciate the
content and the format improvements. I'll give you a proper rundown once I
get the physical object in my hands, which should be any day now.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/


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