Subject: Re: syntax feedback From: Paul Prescod <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 06:38:59 -0600 |
"Simon St.Laurent" wrote: > > The W3C has made some very strange moves, but putting CSS and XSL into > direct competition is one of the strangest. They are not in competition. I admit that XSL is much more complex and thus will not be as popular among low-end stylists as CSS will be. CSS's inventors admit that CSS is much less powerful and thus *cannot solve* the problems that XSL is designed to solve. They are no more in competition than HTML and XML or a Chevy Metro and a Chevy Camaro. > I fear it may hobble both, as > developers struggle over which to support with the most resources. XSL is > more 'powerful' in that it provides transformation, but otherwise I'm > afraid it's not that exciting - unless you've had experience with the tools > that have inspired its particular direction of development. "Other than the fact that it goes really fast, the Camaro isn't very much more interesting than the Metro." If you need a fast car (e.g. to satisfy your ego or to catch Bad Guys) then you don't really have any choice and thus there isn't any competition. XSL is the third standard stylesheet technology to be used by the generic markup world. The first one failed because it did not allow transformations. CSS was never even a contender because it did not do transformations. > I'll stay out of the battle on particulars, but the mere fact that CSS and > XSL are in direct contention is a matter for deep concern. Our own tests demonstrate that they are NOT in contention. CSS people do not like XSL because they don't understand why it has added complexity because their problems do not require the added complexity. If you do NOT need transformation, then there is no benefit in XSL's higher cognitive load, so CSS makes much more sense. So they stick out their tongue at it (as you have described). XSL people cannot use CSS except as an adjunct to XSL. If you need transformation, then you don't really have any choice about whether to use CSS or XSL and there is also no competition. CSS can't even handle a simple cross-reference (nor should it be extended to! It's good at what it does) According to our own informal survey, these technologies are not in contention, direct or otherwise. They are complementary. Paul Prescod - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco "Sports utility vehicles are gated communities on wheels" - Anon XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
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