Subject: Re: Formatting Objects considered harmful From: Stephen Deach <sdeach@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 19:20:21 -0700 |
So, If I aurally walk an XSL FO tree (ignoring the preliminary layout definition stuff), I get a completely understandable result. So, I need to ask, what problem are you trying to infer. Also, based on your interpretation: 1.) The IRS will never issue another form. 2.) People who can't hear are precluded from having an understandable visual presentation. Finally, XSL allows you to produce a presentaion that is (minimally) as rich as, and (potentialy) richer than, HTML+CSS for BOTH aural and visual presentations (independently or concurrently). At 19:29 1999-04-23 +0100, Wendell Piez wrote: >XSL List-- > >Despite a real interest (this is just the kind of "soft" problem I feel >comfortable with) and wanting to interject more than once, I haven't >posted on "XSL Formatting Objects Considered Harmful." But I just got a >pointer to a ZDNet story, which suggests that the concerns of this >thread may soon be of more than casual interest, at least to U.S. >implementors: > >http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2243282-1,00.html > >ZDNet won't let me paste out, but the the paraphrase I received (in a >bulletin from NINCH, the National Institute for a Networked Cultural >Heritage at http://www.ninch.org ) reads: > >> The Government will shortly unveil new requirements under the >> Americans With Disabilities Act for the Web sites of companies >> doing business with government agencies. Similar requirements >> will shortly affect all of us operating online. > >It is hard to know what such guidelines and requirements would cover; >taken to its logical conclusion, however, the disabilities issue would >imply the _universal_ deployment (at least as far as "companies doing >business with goverment agencies" are concerned) of a set of abstract >FO's with richer semantics and cross-media descriptive capabilities than >layout-oriented <xsl:block> or <DIV> elements. It is certainly worth >asking who the government thinks should design these, and how they are >to be standardized across platforms -- not to mention how this >requirement is to be reconciled with the idea of a "semantic web." Can >we have our cake and eat it too? > >Personally I don't think of Formatting Objects delivered to the client >as evil in themselves: it simply depends on what kind of functionality >you want to empower at the receiving end, and in this the deliverer of >the information will always be able to take the upper hand (except when >it comes to paying the bill). Rather than focussing on FOs as such (as >others have said), we should focus on the critical issue, the behavioral >semantics available to the client (whether hardwired in browsers, >supplemented with scripts, or merely potential), how these are to be >known, and how FOs work as an instrument to this end. This is what >providers and users of information at the high end will be negotiating >so fiercely. (And I include impecunious XML/web developers at the high >end. Don't fool yourself: in this world, being a member of the >techno-elite counts for alot.) > >Onward and upward--! >Wendell Piez > >====================================================================== >Wendell Piez mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >Mulberry Technologies, Inc. http://www.mulberrytech.com >17 West Jefferson Street Direct Phone: 301/315-9635 >Suite 207 Phone: 301/315-9631 >Rockville, MD 20850 Fax: 301/315-8285 >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML >====================================================================== > > > XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Stephen Deach | Sr Computer Scientist 408-536-6521 (office) | Adobe Systems Inc. 408-537-4214 (fax) | Mail Stop E15-420 sdeach@xxxxxxxxx | 345 Park Ave | San Jose, CA 95110-2704 | USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
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