Re: XML is broken (was Re: Why Doesn't IE5 use the DTD to

At 02:59 PM 4/2/99 -0800, John J. Barton wrote:
>Forced embedding of control information in the data (er..document)
>goes against a fundamental strength underlying XML.  The
>style sheet concept underlying XML seeks to separate content 
>from display.  There are two ways to win with separated style 
>sheets:
>
>  1) A powerful and wonderful Style controls many lowly XML docs.
>
>         *Style*
>       /  |   |  \
>     x1  x2  x3  x4
>
>  2) A critical and valuable XML doc flows through many styles to glory.
>
>          *XML*
>        /  |  |  \
>       s1  s2 s3 s4
>
>Clearly embedding control info works for the first case; that is 
>today's web publication model.  The second case just cannot use 
>embedded control; this is the data conversion world.

This is a great point.  One thing that's bothered me about every CSS
implementation I've seen is that none of them provide support for users
choosing different styles from a list of choices.  They all seem stuck on
'the document specifies a single presentation for its content' somehow.
More flexibility in this area would be great.  (It's easier if you do your
transforms on the server, and use queries to pick your style sheet, but
it's not much fun!)

Simon St.Laurent
XML: A Primer
Sharing Bandwidth / Cookies
http://www.simonstl.com


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