Subject: Re: [xsl] Future of XSL Stylesheet Writing? From: Steve <subsume@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:43:29 -0400 |
A long time. This certainly isn't going to be the most educated reply, but I'm not sure if I can even think of an example of higher level products (WYSIWYG) precluding the need for technicians working on the lower level. Wouldn't HTML be the perfect case study--does any other language exist which has a greater amount of products dedicated to encapsulating it (Dreamweaver, etc)? And yet manual CSS/HTML hackers are not waiting tables just yet. =) -S Also, I urge you to scan the archives because phobias such as this are presented on this list rather routinely. On 9/26/07, Steven Janoff <Steven.Janoff@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi, > > Newbie here, well-trained recently in the XSL arts, with a > career-related question. > > Been in technical publishing and related fields long enough to see > several generations of publishing solutions where "hot" skills go cold > or cool. E.g., TeX coding skills replaced by secretary using Word; > HTML/CSS hand-coding skills replaced by graphic designer using > Dreamweaver. And so on. > > Now I'm knee-deep in XSLT/XSL-FO stylesheet writing. I've wondered how > long these skills would be "hot" before being replaced by > much-less-skilled workers using a WYSIWYG XSL editor to create > stylesheets, without knowledge of the underlying XSL code. And I see > the recent announcement of the first such tool (or the first I've heard > of), primarily applied to visual FO development. > > How many years do you think it will be before the skills celebrated on > this list -- writing XSLT/XSL-FO stylesheets the "old-fashioned" way, > understanding the code -- will be supplanted by the scenario described > above, as happened with the earlier tools? > > Will these skills serve me for a number of years (5? 10?), or will I be > looking for the next suite of tools to learn in just a few years as > grandmothers around the world start creating PDFs in XSL-FO at the push > of a button? That's an exaggeration, but you know what I mean. > > I've written this post in at least 6 ways (some much longer, some > shorter), but the fundamental question is the same: Will these skills > be bankable in 5 or 10 years? > > Thanks for your honest assessment here. No one on the list can be > expected to predict the future, but the vast wealth of background among > you suggests that an "educated guess" from this list is about as close a > prognostication as you can get to what will actually happen. > > Steve > > -- > Steve Janoff > Information Manager, Specialty Engineering > General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. > Tel. (858) 312-3255 (New number) > Fax (858) 312-4668 (New number) > Steven.Janoff@xxxxxxx
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