Subject: Re: Netscape Support for XSL From: Alex Lancaster <alex@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 18 May 2000 15:58:52 -0600 |
>>>>> "MS" == Martin Stricker <shugal@xxxxxx> writes: [...] >> (b) What happens if a user does not have Internet Explorer for >> Netscape to rely on? MS> I#m sorry to say this, but for now you have to use another XML/XSL MS> parser than Netscape. Even the brand new Netscape 6 preview (yes, MS> it's 6, they skipped the 5) does not support XSL, and I found no MS> information about when Netscape eventually will support MS> XML/XSL. Sorry, but this is the unpleasant truth. Don't forget that the Netscape releases from 6 onwards are based on Mozilla (the free version of the browser), so the right place to look for the bleeding edge in Netscape/Mozilla technology is the Mozilla site: http://www.mozilla.org and lo and behold, there is mention of XSL(T). Right now in the CVS tree (and the milestone builds) TransforMiiX is a XSL(T) parser that a Mozilla module, and is very nearly integrated with the Mozilla browser itself: http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/extensions/transformiix/docs/readme.html >From the above README: "TransforMiiX is an XSLT processor which is not yet complete, but supports a good portion of the XSLT 1.0 recommendation. TransforMiiX was designed to be a "standalone" XSLT processor. This means you can call the processor from the command line, or via the XSLProcessor API. The only thing TransforMiiX requires is an XML parser, and the currently supported parser is Expat written by James Clark. There is currently an effort undergoing to integrate TransforMiiX with Mozilla. This effort is not yet complete and therefor the XSLT processor cannot yet be used within the Mozilla browser. Integration is nearing completion, however." Another page that mentions the progress of XSL support explicitly is: http://www.mozilla.org/rdf/doc/xml.html from what I understand their the intention is to have a stylesheet "plugin" API that supports many different types of plugins (CSS, XSL, DSSSL). MS> If you don't want to rely on Microsoft's browser you can try using MS> xt or saxon with an XSL-T stylesheet to generate HTML which will MS> be displayed by Netscape. But be careful: XSL as used by Microsoft MS> is not compatible with the "real" XSL as standardized by the WWW MS> Consortium (however, if you install the latest update/Preview of MS> MSXSL you get an Internet Explorer which is about 90% compatible MS> (maybe more, I didn't completely test it since it doesn't run on MS> my linux box. Could you please help out here, Jonathan Marsh? I MS> would really appreciate something like a list of which parts of MS> the specification are still missing in MSXSL and the features of MS> MSXSL exceeding the specification!). As to the reason for support for XSL not being in the latest release, here is the relevant Q&A from the layout FAQ: For XML formatting, why is Gecko supporting CSS rather than XSL in the first release? Simple: CSS1 is a finished, fully adopted, and mature two-year-old standard; XSL isn't done yet. As Tim Bray, the coeditor of the XML standard, has written: "Microsoft's XSL efforts are very impressive, but (readers will pardon us being something of a broken record on this subject) XSL is in the future. We are convinced that from the point of view of the largest number of users, the most important things that Microsoft could do in IE 5 would be: 1. Ensure interoperability of XML and stylesheets with other browsers, and 2. Build in conformance to existing, stable, well-understood standards such as CSS 1.0. Innovation, of course, is fine and necessary, and we salute Microsoft's leadership in this area. But innovation needs to be built on a foundation of interoperability and playing by existing well-understood rules." He further adds that "It seems obvious to me that for anyone who wants to deploy XML in production mode right now, XML + CSS is the way to go ?" ("Microsoft Outlines XML Support in IE5 Beta 2" at http://www.xml.com/xml/pub/98/10/ie5-2.html) Regards, Alex -- Alex Lancaster * alex@xxxxxxxxxxx * www.santafe.edu/~alex * 505 984-8800 x242 Santa Fe Institute (www.santafe.edu) & Swarm Development Group (www.swarm.org) XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
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