Re: Default XSL stylesheet for XHTML documents

> This problem is discussed by Håkon Lie, see
> http://www.operasoft.com/people/howcome/1999/foch.html

Excellent paper! But let me comment Håkon's thoughts about SVG:

| W3C is developing SVG and the elements defined in the SVG WD
| don't have much semantics. They're more like formatting objects.
| Aren't they just as harmful? 
|
| No. Compared to the GIF images SVG will replace, the move
| represents an upwards climb on the ladder of abstraction.
| XFO, on the other hand, represents a steep downwards step
| compared to a CSS-based solution. 

 (I cite via copy/paste. Should I use XPointer instead? ;-)

If GIF is on rung 1, SVG is on rung 3 only. Compare it with
DrawML, which was an early submission for web graphic!

 <http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-drawml-19981203>

I would place it on rung 5.
In DrawML, you can connect nodes via edges and use this
semantic for further processing.
I SVG, a path may look like an edge (if you have the
correct coordinates), but the connection is visual only.
The same distinction exists between paint tools and
modelling tools.
And that's the point! The more semantic, the narrower the
room of application. (The higher you climb the ladder, the
rarer the air.)
Normally, a standard does not deal with niche topics.
(IMHO, a graph description language is not a niche topic,
but this is another topic ...)
Consequently, it is quite possible that a standard
specification slithers down on the ladder of abstraction.

Steffen Göldner

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Received on Friday, 13 October 2000 04:58:51 UTC