RE: !BEHAVIOR

I was evidently unclear in an earlier post regarding the proposal to add
a BEHAVIOR attribute, and Daniel Rivers-Moore has kindly pointed this
out with some illuminating questions.

To clarify my convictions:

I agree with Mr. Rivers-Moore that one of the principal accomplishments
of SGML was to separate processing from content. Therefore I oppose
suggestions that would mix these two. Formatting is a kind of
processing. All processing belongs separate from the document's content,
for example, in a DSSSL style sheet. ACTUATE and SHOW should not be in
XML-LINK (or, if there, clearly separated into a processing layer
equivalent to a style sheet).

The exact meaning of the BEHAVIOR attribute is not clear to me. (I think
it is a combination of notation and processing. If so, it doesn't belong
in the data.)

The basic XML data concerns what something is, not how it should be
processed.

HTML gains a great deal of its ease of initial use by mixing these two,
but also many of its problems.

--Andrew Layman
   AndrewL@microsoft.com

Received on Wednesday, 11 June 1997 13:41:06 UTC