Re: Formatting Objects considered harmful

[Paul Prescod <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Håkon Wium Lie wrote:
> 
> Perhaps. Certainly, if XSL was atomic, the issue at hand would be a
> non-issue.

That isn't true.

This also gets to the heart of why describing formatting objects in terms
of some other syntax than XML will *not* help this situation.

As long as formatting objects are described in terms of a data model that
is *compatible with XML* (elements and attributes) it will be possible to
define the "trivial mapping" (similar to an identity mapping) that maps
elements of type "FONT" to FONT formatting objects (no matter what their
syntax). There are tricks you can play to make the identity transformation
a little harder to implement but you cannot make it impossible. And once
it is implemented and distributed once -- it is implemented and
distributed and can't be unimplemented.

-- 
 Paul Prescod  - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for only himself
 http://itrc.uwaterloo.ca/~papresco

"The Excursion [Sport Utility Vehicle] is so large that it will come
equipped with adjustable pedals to fit smaller drivers and sensor 
devices that warn the driver when he or she is about to back into a
Toyota or some other object." -- Dallas Morning News


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