RE: Netscape Support for XSL - client vs server rant

There will always be someone whose ability to render locally is exceeded by
the xml/xsl combination that might be sent down the wire to them.  We
already recognize that by way of the http information sent with post and/or
get (what types of responses the client can handle).  The beauty of the
xml/xsl is that somewhere earlier than that underpowered client some
middle-iron system can do a client sensitive transform to render a form that
the ultimate client can use.  Consider the sales representative using a cell
phone to access client information.  When he/she is using a cell phone, some
place in the middle-iron the material is transformed to meet the limitations
of the form factor of the cell phone display.  When the sales representative
gets to the motel room in the evening and pulls out a laptop the rendering
can be done on edge-most client (the laptop) and the middle-iron/ware level
transform is unnecessary.  Where the transform occurs has no single "best"
or "right" answer.  Transformation locale is (and will probably be for some
time to come) a matter of circumstance and preference.  In some respects I
am reminded that this aspect of the future use of XSLT is a lot like
sausage: if you like it, you really don't want to know how it is made.

Frank
Dr. Frank Mabry
Dept. of EE&CS, U.S. Military Academy
West Point, NY 10996
email: df6954@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: (914) 938-2960


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