ANNOUNCE: Marius 0.6 Beta 0

[Andrew Dwelly <an...@swift.com>]

[This is off topic, but may be some use to Jakarta - Brian suggested I post this here.]

The Marius Documentation system v 0.6 Beta 0 is now available from either myself or from www.macbel.be/marius . This is a limited
release beta of the new system which is largely rewritten from version 0.5, although it is supposed to backwards
compatible. I'm looking for people prepared to use it and perhaps, break it.

Marius allows you to create Literate Programs (in Donald Knuth's sense) using XML as a markup language and Java and its programming
language. I wrote the first version last year and since then its been in use at a couple of  places around Europe to write
developers guides to various pieces of software.

The latest version has been improved with the addition of a number of new elements that allow much larger documents to be written.
It is supplied with a partially complete example - The Annotated Marius - which covers how to use the program and how it is
constructed. The architecture has been changed so that the output system can be easily replaced. This allows manuals to be produced
to existing corporate styles and easy experimenation with new formats. The standard formatter is much improved over v 0.5 and has
been designed to work well in both hard copy and web format. There's also a reference guide, currently in MS word.

Version 0.6 is released under the GPL, unlike earlier version swhich used the Open Source Artistic License.

Best Regards.

Andy Dwelly