Re: The spec evolves...

Guido.van.Rossum@cwi.nl
Mon, 07 Dec 1992 01:07:52 +0100 

Message-Id: <9212070007.AA16719.guido@voorn.cwi.nl>
To: Dan Connolly <connolly@pixel.convex.com>
Cc: www-talk@nxoc01.cern.ch
Subject: Re: The spec evolves... 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 04 Dec 1992 13:11:32 MET."
             <9212041911.AA23347@pixel.convex.com> 
From: Guido.van.Rossum@cwi.nl
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1992 01:07:52 +0100

I just subscribed to www-talk, and haven't been able to read all the
previous exchanges, so please forgive me if this is inappropriate...

>3. I got rid of the TYPE attribute on anchor tags.
>What's that thing for anyway. Does anybody use it?

Yes, I have the following (experimental) use for it.

I have written a program that translates texinfo (the GNU Emacs
documentation format, which can be typeset using a special set of TeX
macros as well as converted to a form of hypertext called Emacs INFO
files) to HTML.  Texinfo files contain the usual cross references
between nodes as well as some more structured links that shape the set
of nodes into a tree.  Typical trees ("documents" in your proposed new
terminology -- I like it!) can contain hundreds of nodes.  My
translator adds types to structured links that indicate whether it is
a link to a child, a left or right sibling, a parent, or the root of
the tree.  This type is then used by a special WWW browser that I
wrote to support tree browsing operations (which are actually
compatible with the operations of the Emacs INFO browser).  I think
this is useful, and better than second-guessing the tree structure
from where the links lead to.

BTW, the results of my conversions (applied to several standard Emacs
manuals as well as to documentation for Python, the language I'm using
to write all my software in) can be viewed in the web rooted at

	http://voorn.cwi.nl:2784/default.html

I have added all sorts of other tags and attributes that don't exist
officially but which my own browser supports (e.g. font changes).
Later I'll try to catch up with the current proposals for HTML and
use that instead.  I might also suggest other changes from which my
texinfo conversion might benefit.

Cheers,

--Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <guido@cwi.nl>
"Are all your pets called Eric?"