Subject: DD: Handbook outline so far From: Tony Graham <tgraham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 09:27:40 -0400 (EDT) |
The following is my current outline for "The DSSSL Handbook" (and comments on the suitability of the name are welcome). The outline divides the book into three parts -- introduction, references, and so-called "real world DSSSL" -- so that related topics are grouped together. It is unfinished, but there is enough here that people can comment on the suitability of the structure. My intention remains to ask people to volunteer to take on individual chapters, develop their structure further, and where possible divide them into portions that multiple people can work on. Besides the organisational aspects, this allows people to write portions and develop the structure of areas where they have the most expertise. Regards, Tony Graham ======================================================================= Tony Graham, Consultant Mulberry Technologies, Inc. Phone: 301-231-6931 6010 Executive Blvd., Suite 608 Fax: 301-231-6935 Rockville, MD USA 20852 email: tgraham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ======================================================================= 0. PREFACE 0.1 Purpose of this book To cover aspects of DSSSL well enough that people can do useful work. The book starts with introductions to DSSSL, has a reference section to help you out when you need to know something about the formalities, and has a "Real World DSSSL" section covering how to approach using DSSSL, how to organise your stylesheet, and how to achieve the output you want. 0.2 Who it is written for This is primarily a book for newcomers to DSSSL, but it should be generally useful. 0.3 The DSSSL Documentation Project Nice folks, really. 0.4 Where to find other DSSSL resources The SGML Web Page and James Clark's DSSSL page contain pointers to resources 0.5 Where to find introductions to SGML The SGML Web Page again for pointers to online stuff, your local bookstore PART 1 -- INTRODUCING DSSSL Beginners start here. This is the introduction to DSSSL, DSSSL concepts, and the mechanics of doing something with DSSSL. 1. INTRODUCTION - WHAT DSSSL IS ABOUT 1.1 Background 1.2 Purpose 1.3 Status 1.4 Possible future directions Extensions for xml-style 2. REALLY SIMPLE EXAMPLE Starting at the level of "hello, world". Starting with "hello, world" is either de rigeur or it's objectionable because it perpetuates the most overused example in the history of computing, or maybe it's a bit of both. - Basics - Getting Started. - A question and answer session - Example 1. A simple memo. - Explanation of what is taking place. - 1. The initial markup file - 2. The Document Type Definition (DTD) - 3. The Style Sheet 3. OVERVIEW OF DSSSL 3.1 Conceptual model 3.2 Transformation language 3.2.1 Groves 3.2.2 Transformer 3.2.3 SGML Generator 3.3 Style language 3.3.1 Conceptual model 3.3.2 Construction Rules 3.3.3 Flow Object trees 3.3.4 Flow Objects 3.4 Formatter 3.5 Expression language 4. A CRASH-COURSE IN SCHEME 5. SIMPLE STYLESHEET EXAMPLES 6. MORE COMPLEX STYLESHEET EXAMPLES PART 2 -- REFERENCE SECTION This is where you go to look something up to help you out of a bind with the nitty-gritty of using DSSSL. The next part, Real World DSSSL, is where you go for help in getting results using DSSSL. 7. HOW TO READ AND USE THE DSSSL STANDARD DOCUMENT - The parts of the standard to start with - Getting the most from the standard 8. DSSSL SYNTAX SUMMARY 9. STYLE SHEET SYNTAX 10. EXPRESSION LANGUAGE REFERENCE 11. TRANSFORMATION LANGUAGE REFERENCE 12. STANDARD DOCUMENT QUERY LANGUAGE REFERENCE 13. STYLE SPECIFICATION MODEL 13.1 Flow objects 13.2 Ports 13.3 Features This should include a table showing what flow object classes or procedures depend upon each feature. 13.5 External procedures and declared characteristics What this means, how to specify an external procedure or declare a characteristic, and how to reference them in a stylesheet 13.6 Characters The character model in all its glory 13.7 Display space 13.8 Color 14. STYLE LANGUAGE REFERENCE 15. FLOW OBJECT CLASSES REFERENCE This should have some grouping of related flow object classes, and each group should have some introductory text about where the group of flow object classes fit in and how they relate to each other. The alternative, of course, is a bald statement of the facts about each flow object class and letting the reader make their own conclusions about how they hang together. 15.1 Grouping 15.1.1 sequence 15.1.2 display-group 15.2 Page models 15.2.1 simple-page-sequence 15.2.2 page-sequence 15.2.3 column-set-sequence 15.2.3 multi-column 15.3 Paragraph 15.3.1 paragraph 15.3.2 paragraph-break 15.4 Table 15.4.1 table 15.4.2 table-part 15.4.3 table-column 15.4.4 table-row 15.4.5 table-cell 15.4.6 table-border 15.5 Math - ... 15.n Online 15.n.1 scroll 15.n.2 multi-mode 15.n.3 link 15.n.4 marginalia 16. SPECIFIC TOOL (JADE) EXTENSIONS 16.1 SGML backend 16.2 RTF extensions 17. XML-STYLE Summary of the purpose and status of xml-style, where to get up to date information 17.1 Application profile Summary of the application profile of the DSSSL standard required of a minimal xml-style implementation 17.2 Extensions Summary of extensions to DSSSL required to be supported by a minimal xml-style implementation PART 3 -- REAL WORLD DSSSL Not the world's best title, but this part provides help in getting results using DSSSL. 18. MAKING STYLESHEETS 18.1 Analyzing the DTD - What to look for, what order, what can be ignored. - Examining, modelling the information to be styled - Analysis tools available to 'look at' a DTD? 18.2 Design strategies - Pages down to paragraphs - Separating common re-usable parts - Using inheritance - Size dependencies, or how to benefit from ripple-through changes 18.3 Parameterization 18.4 Modularity 19. DSSSL TECHNIQUES 19.1 Styles 19.1 Modes 19.2 Space handling 19.3 Transformation in the style language 20. DSSSL FOR VISUAL APPEARANCE Another catchy title that needs changing. This chapter covers how to achieve using DSSSL the objects you're used to seeing on a page or screen. 20.1 Pages, Headers and Footers How to define a page, how to create a header or footer using simple-page-sequence, (theoretical) discussion of page-sequence and column-set-sequence, how (using Jade) to reset page numbers, etc. 20.2 Paragraphs 20.2 Lists How to create numbered, alphabetic, and bulleted lists, how to creat definition lists 20.3 Tables Grateful reference to Anders Berglund's CALS table module, how to turn non-table markup into tables using the table-related flow object classes 20.4 Figures and Graphics 20.5 Cross Referencing 20.6 Contents and Indexing 20.7 Anchors and Links 20.8 Multi-mode 20.9 Math 20.10 Stuff in the margin 20.11 Characters, fonts, and character effects 21. USING JADE'S SGML BACKEND APPENDIX A. EXAMPLE STYLE SHEETS One or more complete stylesheets, presumably for a publicly available DTD (probably the DTD used for the Handbook). This would be most useful if it or they can be used as running examples throughout the book and it is possible to reference into these stylesheets. APPENDIX B. COMPARISON OF DSSSL AND OTHER MECHANISMS B.1 CSS B.2 FOSI B.3 Proprietary formatters APPENDIX C. TOOL MANPAGES "Man"-style instructions for how to run the available DSSSL tools GLOSSARY This should be one large glossary. If it's divided into sections, such as DSSSL, SGML, and typesetting terms, when you don't know in what section the term you don't recognise belongs, you could look through every section before you find the term. If the type or scope of the term is important, then we could put some indication of its category as the first part of the definition. QUICK REFERENCE Definitely in SGML INDEX ---------- $Id: hb-outline.txt,v 1.3 1997/06/20 08:58:55 tkg Exp $ DSSSList info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/dsssl/dssslist
Current Thread |
---|
|
<- Previous | Index | Next -> |
---|---|---|
Re: formatting TOC, Daniel Speck | Thread | Re: DD: Handbook outline so far, Sebastian Rahtz |
Re: Preserving linebreaks in -t sgm, Norman Walsh | Date | Re: DD: Handbook outline so far, Sebastian Rahtz |
Month |