How do you use Lout?

[Henrik Martensson]

Hi everyone,

I have been using Lout for some time now, and have grown a bit curious about
how everyone else uses Lout, and for what purposes.

Personally, I am mostly using Lout as a formatter for XML documents. I write
XML to Lout filters in Perl, using XML::DOM. The documents I format are
usually in one of two categories: technical manuals (in my job) or fanzine
articles (hobby).

I rarely write Lout code by hand, but I did find the diagram package
immensely useful recently, when working on a technical manual. It was
actually easier to code the most messy diagrams in Lout than to draw them in
a drawing program.

I have two main reasons for using Lout:

* It's easy to set up and get going with, at least when working with
  ready made, or lightly customised setup files. This is important,
  because I usually have my nose buried too deeply into various XML
  recommendations and API documents to wish to take on the added
  burden of learning low level formatting commands.

* It's free, which means I can release hobby projects in the public
  domain and have some hope of other people finding the stuff useful.

Anyone else interested in discussing various uses of Lout?

/Henrik

---
Henrik Martensson
GNOSIS-Gruppen
Technical Documentation Services
URL: http://www.gnosisgruppen.com/