Re: SGML/XML syntax for DSSSL

Subject: Re: SGML/XML syntax for DSSSL
From: James Clark <jjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 10:26:05 +0700
At 11:33 19/05/97 -0400, Paul Prescod wrote:
>Mitch C. Amiano wrote:
>> That suggests using a syntax that at the highest level of perusal is
>> cosmetically similar to HTML, and it probably should be XML compliant.
>> This would give it an added advantage over CSS, in providing, at least
>> for a casual user, "one syntax" to learn.
>
>I'm not so sure on this point. XML syntax will probably be comfortable
>for people used to SGML or XML, but it seems just as foreign to HTML
>users as CSS. It uses angle brackets, true, but the tag names are all
>totally different. They will notice that immediately and think: "this is
>a totally different language." 

I don't claim to be an expert on what is easy and obvious for the ordinary
user, but I find that a very strange point of view.  HTML users are very
familiar with having to learn new tags: they do it often enough.  They're
also very familiar (in fact overly familiar) with the idea of using tags in
order to achieve some kind of presentation.   It seems to me that we could
design things so that those parts of the stylesheet that had an XML-based
syntax were easily accessible to anybody familiar with HTML.

James


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