XMLmind XML Editor (XXE)

http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/index.html

Rating: ****

NOTE: XXE is the editor used for all DocBook documents in the VR Juggler source tree. To avoid destroying revision history, we require that those documents be edited with XXE. The latest version as of this writing is 2.7p1.

Has a very good looking preview window. The software is still in development, but downloads are free and it looks like future usage will be free or at a very small cost. This definitely looks like an interesting editor. There is a tutorial that gives more information (pdf version).

This editor is very easy to use, but you have to flip between the editor window and the tree view to do some advanced things. It has a nice preview setting for graphics and seems to work fairly well (especially considering that it is free).

[According to the user's guide, if you're using the tree view, you are probably doing something wrong. After having spent a day using this editor, I would agree—unless there is something more "advanced" than what I normally do to edit documents. -PH]

Supports smart xrefs.

Version 2.1 and beyond has DocBook hooks, and while its support for editing XHTML seems more robust, it is a very good editor. It seems faster than Morphon, and it tends to behave more like a normal document editor than Morphon. Java 1.4 is required for XXE 2.1 and newer.

[Another interesting thing about this editor is that you can't just sit down and start using it. While Morphon takes some getting used to, its interface is pretty straightfoward. XXE has some weird key bindings and tends to hide a lot of things (the XML validate button is in the lower right-hand corner of the window, and it's tiny). However, after reading the user's guide, I found it to be a very effective tool for editing DocBook. -PH]

Morphon XML Editor

http://www.morphon.com/xmleditor/index.shtml (manual)

Rating: **

Looks to have a very good XML editor with a nice architecture that allows plug-ins. There are two companies behind it that have large coporate sponsors/partners that they are doing this project and related research for. It looks like it could be a solid product. The price is ~$100 for a single license, but that isn't bad as far as tools go.

Very nice set of features and the ability to customize the CSS that is used to display the document. Possible to specify smart "enter-key" functionality to simplify document entry in some very powerful ways. Nice plug-in architecture for adding new features to the system.

Support cross-references within the document with automatic pull-down list of potential list targets. I don't know if there is a way to get this to work across documents though.

EMACS with XML and DocBook

Rating: *

Yes, even EMACS can be used to edit DocBook and XML.

http://xslt-process.sourceforge.net/

XMetal

http://www.softquad.com/top_frame.sq

Rating: ***

Highly recommend commercial XML editor that supposedly has good docbook support.

Supports Win32 only (bummer). Definitely looks like the most powerful, polished, and expensive one on the list though.

Geared towards previous users of MS products. Supports all XML DTDs and doesn't seem to have any "special" docbook support. It should be able to support everything though and the next version looks like it will be very nice.

Conglomerate

http://www.conglomerate.org/

Rating: ****

Great looking editor with sweet interface that is simple but very powerful. The problem is that it is alpha software and seems to be going nowhere soon.

ThotBook

http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/thotbook/

Future FSF editor for DocBook. Still in early development, but it does show that there are FSF people that are looking at DocBook and SGML/XML as documentation methods.

XML Spy

http://www.xmlspy.com/

Full XML IDE with XSLT Designer. Appears to be Win32-only and is quit a bit more expensive than Morphon. The XSLT Designer aspect looks really cool, though. Don't know too much more about it yet…

Other

Since DocBook has a DTD, nearly all of these editors can be used. The only difference is that some have custom support for certain docbook abilities.

See Also: DocBookFaq