DocBook is an XML language.

For example, rather than explaining how the abstract for an article might be visually formatted, DocBook simply says that a particular section is an abstract.

DocBook does not actually require that chapters be explicitly given numbers ; it is understood by the semantics that the number of a chapter is the number of previous chapter elements in the XML document plus 1.

) That is, it is not required that a DocBook processor transform an < tt > emphasis </ tt > tag into " italics.

Also, the root element of a DocBook document must have a version that specifies the version of the format that the document is built on.

Because DocBook is XML, documents can be created and edited with any text editor.

A dedicated XML Editor is likewise a functional DocBook editor.

Because DocBook is an XML format, conforming to a well-defined schema, documents can be validated and processed using any tool or programming language that includes XML support.

Nearly always, this is accomplished using DocBook XSL stylesheets.

Because the standard DocBook XSL stylesheets are well-formed XSL stylesheets, and DocBook is well-formed XML, users can write their own customized stylesheets or even a full-fledged program to process the DocBook into an appropriate output format as their needs dictate.

Web help is a chunked html output format in the DocBook XSL stylesheets that was introduced in version 1. 76. 1.

The documentation for web help also provides an example of web help and is part of the DocBook xsl distribution.

DocBook is currently maintained by the DocBook Technical Committee at OASIS.

DocBook is available in both SGML and XML forms, as a DTD.

Starting with DocBook 5, the RELAX NG version is the " normative " form from which the other formats are generated.

Walsh is also the principal author of the book DocBook: The Definitive Guide, the official documentation of DocBook.

The current version of DocBook, 5. 0, is fairly recent.

That is, an element named < tt > info </ tt > must contain the same information no matter where it is in the DocBook file.

From the late ' 80s on, most substantial new markup languages have been based on SGML system, including for example TEI and DocBook.

* DocBook — DocBook, a markup language for technical documentation.

As a semantic language, DocBook enables its users to create document content in a presentation-neutral form that captures the logical structure of the content ; that content can then be published in a variety of formats, including HTML, XHTML, EPUB, PDF, man pages, Web help and HTML Help, without requiring users to make any changes to the source.

As a semantic language, DocBook documents do not describe what their contents " look like ," but rather the meaning of those contents.

Since DocBook was built originally as an application of SGML, the DTD was the only available schema language.

This was emphasised when previous SGML strongholds such as DocBook converted from SGML to XML, and also converted their favoured stylesheet language from DSSSL to XSL.

DocBook provides schema files for popular XML schema languages, so any XML Editor that can provide content completion based on a schema can do so for DocBook.

These are XSLT stylesheets that transform DocBook documents into a number of formats ( HTML, XSL-FO for later conversion into PDF, etc .).

DocBook originally started out as an SGML application, but an equivalent XML application was developed and has now replaced the SGML one for most uses.

Eventually, however, DocBook was adopted by the open source community where it has become a standard for creating documentation for many projects, including FreeBSD, KDE, GNOME desktop documentation, the GTK + API references, the Linux kernel documentation, and the work of the Linux Documentation Project.

Norman Walsh and the DocBook Project development team maintain the key application for producing output from DocBook source documents: A set of XSL stylesheets ( as well as a legacy set of DSSSL stylesheets ) that can generate high-quality HTML and print ( FO / PDF ) output, as well as output in other formats, including RTF, man pages and HTML Help.

It is a small subset of DocBook designed for single documents such as articles or white papers ( i. e., " books " are not supported ).

* DocBook XSL A group of XSLT stylesheets for transforming DocBook into various viewable formats.

* DocBook: The Definitive Guide, 1st edition, v. 2. 0. 6-Fully bookmarked PDF of the Guide for DocBook 3. x and 4. x.

* DocBook — an XML format for technical documenation

One can easily write a document in TEI or DocBook, and transform it into HTML for web viewing or PDF ( through an FO processor ) for printing.

In fact, there are many pre-existing TEI and DocBook XSLTs for both of these purposes.

Several formats, including DocBook XML, target authors of technical documents about computer hardware and software.

The most common format for writing technical documentation is using the DocBook XML system.

Additionally, if using a DocBook XSL system it allows the adoption of single source publishing whereby technical or other documentation ( such as product manuals ) can be produced in PDF format for printing as well as HTML for on-line publication and WebHelp to be distributed on CD-ROM's.

** DocBook Demystification HOWTO, Linux Documentation Project.

DocBook provides a vast number of semantic element tags.

Structural elements are the only permitted top-level elements in a DocBook document.

DocBook semantics are entirely neutral to these kinds of language-based concepts.

( The DocBook specification does say that it expects different typographical treatment, but it does not offer specific requirements as to what this treatment may be.

" A reader-based DocBook processor could increase the volume of the words.

All DocBook elements are in an XML Namespace, so the root element has an xmlns attribute to set the current namespace.

) are formally defined in the DocBook schema.

Appropriate programming tools can be used to validate an XML document ( DocBook or otherwise ), against its corresponding schema, in order to determine if ( and if so, where ) the document fails to conform to that schema.

Many graphical or WYSIWYG XML editors come with the ability to edit DocBook like a Word Processor.

DocBook files are used to prepare output files in a wide variety of formats.