RE: About the source library

[Avi Kivity <Avi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday, May 05, 1999 9:02 PM, Ron Ross [SMTP:ronross@xxxxxxxxx] wrote:
> On Mon, 3 May 1999, pnidv96@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > By "native formatter" I mean a program that directly formats the
> > flow
> > object tree for print or rendition online without going through
> > some
> > other formatter such as TeX or Word for example. The input is the
> > FOT
> > and the output is PDF or something that a printing/display device
> > wants.
> > A native formatter will make it possible to support the whole
> > formatting
> > language (including general indirect sosofos and complex pages).
> 
> Hi, 
> 
> This sounds terrific. The prospect of having the whole DSSSL
> implementation at one's disposal _and_ of being able to output it
> directly
> to screen or print is extremely encouraging. 
> 
> I have one proviso (or perhaps it's just a query) on the file
> format. I'm

Going on-screen means there no longer is a file format. The FOT, instead of
being translated into text or binary byte strings, is translated into the
native API of whatever is doing the display. The ability to change window
width dynamically also affects rendering.


> nearly all my clients require editable documents, documents they

Editing generated documents is evil. What do they do when the source
changes?

> will
> integrate with their Word files, or for which they have multiple
> uses,
> including incorporation into page layout programs, or into Web
> pages.
> 
> Is there a format that can accommodate this kind of file use while
> retaining as much of the formatting as possible? 
> 
Most formats either have too little formatting information (for example,
rtf) or too much, making them uneditable (postscript).
The only file format which retains *exactly* the right amount of information
is Jade's FOT backend output. It's editable with an SGML editor, and
re-translatable into other formats, and completely unusable to humans.

I think your requirements are conflicting.


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