Re: Relationship Taxonomy Questions

Eliot, please reread this thread and contemplate how the Web
works now, successfully distinguishing traversal links from inclusion
links.  Practical requirements are real and successful systems
make it possible to implement them.

From w3c-sgml-wg-request@www10.w3.org Thu Jan 23 08:26 PST 1997
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Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 10:14:43 -0900
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From: "W. Eliot Kimber" <eliot@isogen.com>
Subject: Re: Relationship Taxonomy Questions
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At 07:33 AM 1/23/97 -0800, Terry Allen wrote:
>Paul Prescod wrote:

[...]

>| And when they are clicked on they are downloaded, but not
>| displayed. 
>
>If part of my document's text is included through a link, *and the
>document is being displayed*, the included text must be displayed when 
>downloaded so as to display the full text as I intended it, complete 
>with safety warnings, etc.  Else I can't rely on my data format to
>convey my content, and the XML format is useless for practical
>purposes, however interesting it may be for hypertext theory.

But you can't *ever* do this with SGML or XML or any other generalized
format unless you control both the server and browser.  Even on the Web I
can change almost all aspects of the presentation of the pages I get,
except for that stuff that's in an opaque format (controls, graphics, java
scripts, etc.).

If you want this level of control, downtranslate the XML to PDF and use
Acrobat or do what Microsoft does and use SGML to construct closed CD-ROMs
or define a specific protocol for delivering information that must be
viewed exactly as intended (e.g., IETMs).

No generalized data representation scheme can *ever* guarantee behavior of
any sort--that can only be done by defining the specific presentation and
delivery system and then ensuring that end users have no facility for
modifying any part of the system--in other words, unless the data is
delivered as a single, opaque, unconfigurable black box, all bets are off.

Asking for the above is like expecting a security attribute to prevent
people from looking at data they don't have clearance for.  

Cheers,

E.
--
W. Eliot Kimber (eliot@isogen.com) 
Senior SGML Consulting Engineer, Highland Consulting
2200 North Lamar Street, Suite 230, Dallas, Texas 75202
+1-214-953-0004 +1-214-953-3152 fax
http://www.isogen.com (work) http://www.drmacro.com (home)
"Rats in the morning, rats in the afternoon...if they don't go away, I'll be
re-educated soon..."                 --Austin Lounge Lizards, "1984 Blues"

Received on Thursday, 23 January 1997 11:33:16 UTC