RE: Headline: Styles pondering desertion to Content!

	[I want] a method to dynamically draw arrows, borders, 
	and text THAT CAN Z-ROTATE... onto an xml document. 

Nothing dynamic will happen strictly in xhtml.

There are other xml modules that deal with behavior, but I suspect
what you really want is even simpler.  Try one of

(1)	simple markup plus CSS - should do what I *think* you really want
(2)	SVG - markup to do what you describe, but not yet well-supported
(3)	scripting, like javascript or even java - total control, already 
	well-supported, but not simple

> I want tools to "commentize" a previously marked-up document. 

If you're willing to modify the document, then adding a simple markup
tag (it could even be span or div with a class attribute) will indicate 
where the comments go, and CSS will let you make it look right.  The
"right" CSS sheet may not be written yet, but you can do it once and 
distribute it.

> I want, at minimum, z-axis-aimable, styleable, dynamic arrows,
> and secondly, z-axis-aimable, styleable, text and borders.  

You can get that with CSS, but it may not be as styleable or dynamic
as you like.  

If not, you can either use SVG, or create images (a one-time process) 
and load them with the CSS.  You may also be able to get most of the 
standard marks from either unicode or a symbol font, depending on 
what fonts your users have installed.  If you can do this, it is better
than using a picture.

> In a way, I suppose, I am just asking W3c permission to use 
> their OBJECT tag as an access point TO the dynamic dohickie 
> rendering engine 

You have permission.  Your plugin probably won't be as well-supported
as quicktime just yet, but you can certainly distribute it to your own
users.  I think it isn't the easiest way, but you can do it.

> That, is likely true.  I guess maybe I was HOPING that xHTML's 
> extensibility would be able to do future needs.  

Part of the extensibility is modularization.  It is possible to support
XHTML+SVG in the same document, but it is also legal to write
a browser that does not know SVG, and just hand SVG off to a plugin.
 
> "Leave OBJECT tag alone.  Extend xhtml with a module to fit 
> my needs, then go begging to browser and/or plugin makers to 
> build a renderer for it."?

Most browsers will already render your new module; they just 
won't have built-in defaults for the styles, so you'll have to include 
a stylesheet if you want it to look right.

Received on Friday, 6 February 2004 10:59:39 UTC