Re: HTML should not be a file format, but an output format

>++    From: BruceLeban@akimbo.com
>++    Why not? The structure of a web site is arbitrarily divided up into 
>++    multiple files.
>
>From:	abigail@fnx.com (Abigail)
>Why is everything a separate file? Think about it. It's
>because how your server works - and that's not an HTML issue, and in
>fact not an HTTP issue either. It's something some server authors
>decided on. There's no reason to follow them; use whatever local
>politics you want, it won't affect HTML, nor the HTTP protocol.

Sorry, but that's not true. It is an HTML issue. There is no way to embed 
a picture directly in an HTML file. It's just not defined. Not to say 
that it couldn't be defined but it isn't. Granted a server could define 
it's own special format for embedding pictures in an HTML file and then 
strip it out and rewrite the IMG tags when the document is served. It 
could also recognize special URLs to reference pictures embedded in HTML 
files so they could be served separately. As for CGI, I sure wouldn't 
want the server sending my cgi scripts out to anyone who looked at my web 
pages. They have private stuff in them. I'm amazed at some of the private 
stuff I've seen in HTML comments. <!-- Add details about new top secret 
300mhz model here. -->

Globetrotter does adopt this approach (if you want to use it), but 
everything happens when you publish the document to your web server, not 
when the document is served. To me this makes a lot more sense. Among 
other things it allows local preview without going through the server 
since the files on the server mirror what the the server serves. 

>++    For example, in Globetrotter small caps is a true style. It 
>++    doesn't exist in HTML. When Globetrotter publishes a document it 
>writes 
>++    the correct HTML to produce the desired result.
>
>Odd, how can it when it doesn't exist?

Walter's right. It translates lowercase to uppercase and then outputs 
<FONT SIZE> tags to switch sizes in browsers that support that tag.

    --- Bruce Leban
    Akimbo Systems
    http://www.akimbo.com/globetrotter
    Publish on the web without learning HTML! (Really.)

Received on Sunday, 13 April 1997 14:40:50 UTC