style sheets [was: Re: Seriffed and sans-serif fonts?]

> From: Brian Behlendorf <brian@organic.com>

[...]
> This is all definitely as things should go, but I worry that style sheets 
> won't even be introduced as a possibility until SGML-based browsers are 
> out there and used in abundance, which could be a long time.

Well, we have already shipped the freely available version
of SoftQuad Panorama -- an SGML helper app. and browser for the WWW -- to
a number of distributors, including Spyglass.  The PRO version is currently
shipping in small quantities, and will be shipping generally in a week or
two; the fre version will soon be available by ftp, and we will be making
announcements so that people can try it out.

The `week or two' delay is mostly so that people with existing SGML can
put it up on their web servers, so there's something to look at for the
roll-out.

However, SoftQuad Panorama is not intended for use with HTML of the sort
that's typically found on the web -- e.g. it doesn't handle omitted tags.

I said earlier:
> > There are some problems with the current style sheet syntax when included
> > in a document -- HTML 2 browsers either go bananas or display the text
> > of the style sheet at the top of the document -- but I think that could be
> > fixed by putting the syntax into elements with attributes.
> 
> But, HTML 2 browsers should never have to see them, if the <STYLE> tag is 
> HTML 3 only :)  If one uses a <LINK> mechanism, then it's not a problem.

Yes.  The problem is that the style sheet is optionally included in the
content of the STYL element, inline.  It's optional, though, so you don't
have to use it.

Lee

-- 
Liam Quin, SoftQuad Inc +1 416 239 4801 lee@sq.com   <URL:http://www.sq.com/>

Received on Monday, 24 April 1995 15:45:11 UTC