CSS for XML *outside* of the formatting model

This question is *not* about using CSS for styling XML documents into
the CSS formatting model!

It's about using CSS as a general XML default mechanism for filling in
missing attribute values (as opposed to filling in "properties" in the
visual formatting model). SMIL 1.0 is an example where such a use of
CSS was suggested.

That suggestion unfortunately is not a perfectly well-defined
mechanism: since selectors themselves depend on attributes, the order
in which defaults are inserted affect the result.  This nondeterminism
is not desirable, of course.

Did anyone else consider or just note this issue?  A simple solution
is to insist on an ordering among the attributes.  It is used to
determine in which order the attributes of an element are assigned
values according to the stylesheet.

Any references would be appreciated.

thanks

/Nils

PS: Disclaimer: I have recently been involved in work that tries to
address this issue in the larger context of defining schemas.  The
reason I am asking this question here is that I have been unable to
track down references to this particular problem.  Somebody gotta have
have noticed!!  Also, I'm not soliciting any debates about CSS v. XSLT
or anything else controversial. (Searches in archives for something
related to this problem invariably yields hundreds of references to
the use of CSS for XML assuming the standard visual formatting model,
so I'm throwing up my hands here.)

Received on Monday, 13 December 1999 06:25:42 UTC