Re: DSSSL style editing (was: RE: Positioning...)

>If we relax the (effectively impossible) requirement that all
>stylesheets be interchangeable between all style editors, then a lot
>can be done to help authors create stylesheets.  In a format like XML
>that supports deep, labeled structures, a smart editor should be able
>to create a workable starting stylesheet simply by looking at the
>document structure.  (ArborText makes a FOSI editor that does this.)
>If the author knows enough to identify which elements are
>title-bearers, a smart application could create a very respectable
>stylesheet; it could even allow the user to select between a
>repertoire of canned treatments the way that many word processors do.
>In fact, given real structure to work with, a DSSSL editor should in
>theory be able to do an even better job of heuristic stylesheet
>construction than current word processors.

This is I think the heart of our differences. 
With HTML I can create a page in Emacs post and post it to my web server.
Then John can download it with Netscape Gold, edit it, and post it back to
the web server. Then Steve can download it and edit it with PageMill and post
it back. Then Andrea can download it, modify it with FrontPage and post it
back.

I expect that eventually, we will be able to do the same thing with
HTML+CSS or
even XML+CSS. I don't think this will ever be possible with XML+DSSSL.

I think this ability to for users on different platforms with different
software to share not only viewing of documents, but editing of documents
is one of the 
key reasons for the success of the web. I would bet a large percentage of 
the pages posted by individuals are modified versions of somebody else's
pages,
often created with different tools.

Received on Tuesday, 4 February 1997 20:41:54 UTC