RE: Positioning HTML Elements with Cascading Style Sheets

Steve Knoblock writes:
>John,
>
[...]
>I have to admit the DSSSL model is intriguing. The samples posted here have
>been quite interesting.
>
>>* Generate a table of contents at this spot.
>
>>These aren't contrived or artificial examples; they're dirt-normal
>>commercial publishing.  Without programming, you can't handle even the
>>last one.
>
>I agree they are real tasks in publishing. But should they be generated as
>they are rendered or as they are authored? Should a style language be
>generating or manipulating content?

  Perhaps.  Consider a browser that could generate a table of contents or
'condensed' view automatically, whether the author explicitly created one
or not.  You could have a 'summarize' button on your toolbar that would pop
up a new view that would have only the 'important' parts of the document
showing (where 'important' could be customized), or if the author provided
it, a section of the document tagged as a 'summary' that isn't shown
normally.

   Anyway, combine this with figure/chapter/etc renumbering, automatic
generation of lists of figures / tables, and indices, and you have a big
win.  You don't _have_ to use MS-Word or another DTP program to do things
like this.

-Bill P.

Received on Tuesday, 4 February 1997 09:53:26 UTC