Re: Processing instructions for style tweaks?

> Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 17:38:19 -0600
> From: "Daniel W. Connolly" <connolly@hal.com>

> What if we support little bits of DSSSL inside processing instructions,
> ala:
> 
> 	<ul>
> 	<? (space-before: 12pt) >
> 	<li> xlkjdlfkj
> 	<li> ablkjasdf
> 	</ul>
> 
> 	<dl>
> 	<? (font-weight: 'bold font-size: 14pt)> <!-- get the right font -->
> 	<dt>Slug
> 	<dd> explanation
> 	</dl>
> 
> This has the following features:
> 
> 	* It's simple to maintain
> 	* It's independent of the DTD. You could use it in HTML, HTML+,
> 		DocBook, etc.
> 	* The semantics can be defined in terms of DSSSL, a (draft)
> 		international standard with zillions of person-years of
> 		work behind it
> 	  (if a different stylesheet mechanism gets deployed, the same
> 		sort of thing should work. But DSSSL-Lite seems as good
> 		as any right now.)
> 	* It doesn't affect the structure of the document

Why do you prefer a processing instruction to some sort of
architectural form?  For example,

<!element style - - any>
<!attlist style
   DSSSL NAME #FIXED style-long-names -- there might be an alternative
                                         architectural form
					 with shorter (RCS) names --
   font-weight (ultra-light | extra-light | light | semi-light
                | medium | semi-bold | bold | extra-bold | ultra-bold)
                #IMPLIED
   font-size NUTOKEN #IMPLIED
   space-before NUTOKEN #IMPLIED
   space-after NUTOKEN #IMPLIED
   -- and so on --
>

You could easily add this to any DTD as an inclusion, or a DTD
designer could use these forms selectively to give a bit more control.
You could even use LINK to associate these attributes with elements.

James

Received on Wednesday, 30 November 1994 11:26:46 UTC