Re: Questions about StyleSheet.

[Paul Prescod <papresco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Steve Liou wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> I am a new comer in SGML field. I world like to find more information
> about SGML style sheet from the web site. Is there any web site that
> compare the difference among DSSSL, FOSI and XSL? How to decide which
> one should I use? And, is there any commerical products the support
> these style sheet standards?
> Really need your help and recommandation.

FOSI    * older standard
	* not fully programmable
	* supported by a few commercial tools
	* no free implementations

DSSSL	* newer standard (from last year)
	* fully programmable
	* supported by free Jade tool
	* little commercial support yet
	* a little bit complex, but very complete

XSL	* newest standard (very much under development still)
	* fully programmable
	* supported by free tools (but interoperability is not perfect!)
	* little commercial support yet (because it isn't done yet)
	* perhaps a little over-simple
	* very much in flux!!!

So there is no straightforward answer. Robust, portable stylesheets have
been SGML's achilles heel for many years. If I were you, I would
probably learn XSL first, and use that as a stepping stone to get to
DSSSL. But I would be leery about basing major projects on XSL while it
is still so much in flux. DSSSL is more stable because it was thought
out over a much longer period.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

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