Re: Information components (DTD fragments)

In message <199705041951.MAA08944@boethius.eng.sun.com> bosak@atlantic-83.Eng.Sun.COM (Jon Bosak) writes:
[... off-topic suggestion deleted ...]
> 
> We are here in order to create specific deliverables.  To do that we
> need to take things in an order of priority and to stay focused on the
> tasks at hand.  So as interesting and ultimately important as this
> subject is, I must ask you either to suspend this discussion or take
> it elsewhere, the obvious candidate for that being comp.text.sgml.

Apologies - I was probably interpreting 'linkage to behaviors' too
enthusiastically :-).  Most of the rest of what I suggested is consistent
with the present XML-lang and XML-link.  I am delighted the ERB have this 
subject under their wings.  Tacet.

[...]
> 
> For example, has anyone completely thought through the implications of
> xml-link for implementors?  Are all you would-be implementors

I am doing what I can.  JUMBO now interoperates with NXP (i.e. a choice of 
parsers decided by the client.  I hope to do Lark before Barcelona.)  The 
main problem in a browser is getting a decent display for the
hypertext component under Java.  As is discussed on xml-dev there is a
serious lack of useful tools to interface Java with browsers.  So most of 
the struggle is not XML-related.  IOW XML-LINK seems to me to be primarily a 
matter of interface and display engineering.

> completely satisfied that you can have complete extended xml-link
> functionality up and running soon?  If so, why aren't you working on
> it?  If not, why aren't you complaining?

xml-dev seems to have gone quieter than I would have liked after the
first rush of postings.  I would like to see more progress towards defining
APIs and/or our components (Elements, Attributes, etc.), but I didn't get 
much response.  I'd hate to think (a) that no-one other than the regulars
was interested (b) lots of people are beavering away in secret - result 
lots of incompatible APIs...

Apart from myself I haven't seen any documents using XML-LINK so I have only
my own feedback on this.  I still have an (unanswered) concern about spans
and I haven't implemented '..' because the semantics are unclear to me.
I have not implemented XML-LINK="GROUP" as such because it seem to have no
semantics associated with it other than being a container.  And DOCUMENT
is simply an HREF without any of the other attributes.  So what does GROUP
do that:
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="foo"></A></LI>
<LI><A HREF="bar"></A></LI>
</UL>
doesn't?  (Assuming that the value of HREF is a locator).

	P.


-- 
Peter Murray-Rust, domestic net connection
Virtual School of Molecular Sciences
http://www.vsms.nottingham.ac.uk/

Received on Monday, 5 May 1997 08:09:56 UTC