Re: CSS and XSL

[Paul Prescod <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Simon St.Laurent" wrote:
> 
> If XSL can't deal with the style attribute, then maybe the XSL WG should
> put some serious thought into how better to handle it.  As much as I like
> atomization, being able to put style information into a single attribute
> for handling by a CSS interpreter  - rather than cluttering my documents
> and likely my DTDs with an incredible profusion of normally unused style
> attributes - is convenient and usually downright sensible.

You might want to hard-code, default or constrain particular CSS
properties in your DTDs. You can do that if properties are directly
represented as attributes.

> You're demanding that everything (CSS, SVG, etc.) come over to XSL, without
> much talk of accomodating the older (and useful) ways.  

You're very tricky with language. I'm not "demanding anything" any more
than everyone else on this list that makes suggestions about
standardization directions is "demanding anything."

Anyhow, I'm asking/demanding that CSS be made XML compatible in the same
way that HTML has been made XML compatible. Since XML is a fundamental
building block of most upcoming W3C specifications, that seems reasonable.

> It may be
> revolutionary, but it's also (I think) counterproductive and not a good way
> to make friends.

In my last message I've tried to show that XSL is only potential
application that will have trouble with CSS syntax. DTDs, schemas, the
DOM, query languages, RDF -- everything is based on the XML syntax for
properties not the CSS syntax for properties.

I'm not so much of a purist that I think that CSS's current syntax should
never be used. All I ask is that when CSS is used directly with XML that
it should align with XML conventions and syntax. It makes everyone's life
easier.
-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

If you spend any time administering Windows NT, you're far too familiar 
with the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) which displays the cause of the 
crash and gives some information about the state of the system when 
it crashed.  -- "Microsoft Developer Network Magazine"


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