Re: SGML on the web (was: when will CSS rule)

At 09:59 PM 11/20/96 -0600, Carl Morris wrote:
>Nope HTML != SGML by any comparison function you can throw at it.  HTML
>is SGML + mild style + etc...

HTML is SGML just as dogs are mammals and sharks are fish.

>| This is *not* an accurate paraphrase of my paragraph above which does
>not
>| mention validation at all. Let me say it again. It is useful to use
>SGML in
>| situations where you *never* intend to validate *anything.* Usually,
>| however, once people move to SGML they figure they might as well take
>| advantage of all of its features, instead of half of them. That will
>| probably change if it becomes the lingua franca of the Web.
>
>Then there is no need to use SGML, any thing else in the world will
>work, without SGML though, there is no standard to force people to live
>by, even if it does allow them to express their data in any way, it
>still requires that they use the rules to write their DTD.  

I have pointed out several times that it is possible to publish using the
XML SGML dialect *without* a DTD.

>HTML is no
>different, its an application of SGML, it means it can be described
>using a DTD, but it also applied several other rules that become a
>standard that binds authors and browsers, search engines and the

Certainly. This is *one* of the benefits of SGML. But you do not *need*
those "other rules" (specified in a DTD) in order to use it and benefit from
it. Authors can author using the tags they like. Browsers will display
according to the style sheet. Search engines predate the Web *and* SGML (in
some cases) and can search tagged formats *without* a DTD. What is so
difficult about this?

>content in a simpler form than SGML permits.

Argh. I give up. I'm sure everybody who is listening understands why that
statement is ridiculous.

 Paul Prescod
---
Boycott Shell Oil worldwide!  http://www.web.apc.org/embargo/shell.htm    

"Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel
said to be holding a watching brief."..."The ecological war that the Company
has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later." -Ken
Saro-Wiwa to the tribunal that later executed him.
http://www.gem.co.za/ELA/ken.html

Received on Wednesday, 20 November 1996 23:09:50 UTC