RE: About the source library

[Avi Kivity <Avi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thursday, May 06, 1999 10:22 AM, Ron Ross [SMTP:ronross@xxxxxxxxx] wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 6 May 1999, I wrote:
> > 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.
> 
> Phew! I believe this goes some way toward explaining another
> poster's

Me. A web search shows it's "Scalable Vector Graphics". But I don't really
get what you're driving at.

> query about what "SVG" means. Does this mean that the only way for
> another
> party to "get" this output is by regenerating the FOT through an
> SGML/DSSSL(or XSL) setup? The prospect is still exciting, but will

The FOT can be stored for later presentation, although you lose the
indirect-sosofo features, whereby information from the rendering process is
fed back into the styling process (i.e., layout information is made
available to the stylesheet).

> not
> always be viable, simply because the mainstream software isn't
> anywhere
> near there yet (with the possible exception of the latest browser
> technology -- such as the Mozilla browser, whenever it comes out of
> the
> shop).
> 
> >> nearly all my clients require editable documents, documents they
> > 
> > Editing generated documents is evil. What do they do when the
> > source
> > changes?
> 
> The source, in a business environment, is often bound to the
> situation,
> the situation that provided me with the source document to
> translate, and
> then the changing situations that affect the use of the document I
> provide. I am sometimes called upon to change the source of my own
> document and regenerate it, but often it's out of my hands. The
> client
> expects to have a document they can put to various uses.
> 
> > I think your requirements are conflicting.
> 
> Possibly. Or there is simply a choice of procedures to follow
> according to
> the situation.

Maybe you can provide multiple versions: editable RTF, webbable HTML, and
printable output from the TeX backend or the native formatter (when there is
one). After all, that's what those multiple backends are there for.


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