RE: [xsl] Critique/comments sought: XML/XSLT website documentation project

["Robert Koberg" <rob@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-xsl-
> list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan Sumption
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 3:27 PM
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> > I changed the template/@name & call-template to a
> > template/@match & apply-template. I couldn't get rid of the
> > for-each and strictly use apply-templates because it would
> > not change the child's angle. I don't know why
> > apply-templates doesn't work in place of for-each???
> 
> Yeah, I realised that part was a little messy :) I changed the logic of
> what I was doing several times while doing it, and ended up with things
> that way pretty much because it worked rather than because it was in the
> least bit graceful. I'd be interested to see what your version looks
> like (translation: it sounds simpler to look at your version than to
> work out the template matching and structure myself) - you can mail me
> off-list with a copy if that's OK.

(just sent the XSL to Dan privately). I did not change much. The main
difference is that I got rid of the key and just apply-template'd my way
through. The way you have it is fine, perhaps even faster??


> 
> > Since we have folder and page nodes I multiplied the cx and
> > cy variables for folders by 4 to give more room for larger
> > sites. In doing so, I still get overlaps. Perhaps you have
> > plans for collision detection? :)
> 
> Haha, actually one of the biggest things that put me off starting this
> was that I had no idea how to detect/prevent collisions (but that's also
> one of the biggest reasons I hate Visio - it's got a lot better in
> recent versions, but I still seem to end up spending more time tidying
> up lines than I do entering any kind of useful data). I was actually
> really surprised when I realised that the abstract-seeming code I'd
> entered managed to do a pretty good job of laying things out - mainly
> because of the way the angles are handled, and the fact that line length
> decreases the further you go from the "hub". But beyond that, I don't
> really know where I'd start.

You've got me. Maybe one of the math geeks on the list finds this
interesting enough to check it out.

> 
> > Another feature might be to add interactivity where you can
> > click on a node to expand/collapse it (and center the node
> > clicked in the viewport).
> 
> That's something I'd certainly considered, as well as adding drag
> functionality so that you can reposition nodes yourself. But it took
> enough for me to get to grips with the basic SVG - I want to take a deep
> breath before I start tackling scripting and DOM stuff as well.
> 

I will probably do it in the near future and send you have the results if
you like.


> In the meantime, something else very simple which I'd meant to include
> but forgot was the ability to set a start page - for a very large site
> you could just do this several times, and so map the site in a series of
> smaller diagrams rather than one big messy one.

This is one of the main reasons I am interested in it. Currently, we
transform the site.xsd instance into a tree and use buttons (javascript) to
allow the user to rearrange the site architecture:
http://www.livestoryboard.com/Products/Screen_shots.html (second image)

best,
Rob


> 
> Dan
> 
> 
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