Subject: Re: [xsl] Prince XML vs Docbook From: "Paul Tyson phtyson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2018 02:58:08 -0000 |
You can call it a triumph of mediocrity, or regression to the mean, or the good being the enemy of the better. You can even blame the dastardly twin tempters "low-cost" and "ease-of-use". But the fact remains: the world of computer-mediated literate exchange is crippled and poorer because we abandoned the flow object as a central, standardized abstraction in the process. DSSSL of course was too egg-headed for general adoption. XSL(FO)2 might have been a workable approximation. No matter how many refinements and modules you pile on to CSS, it's still all about setting font and paragraph characteristics on strings of text. That's just TeX in a new way. (Not knocking CSS or TeX here, they're both great in their fields of application.) The rise of CSS super-syntaxes such as "less" and "sass" points to the inherent limitations. These applications are to CSS as LaTeX is to TeX, and they further delude users into thinking this is a programming problem rather than a semantic one. The genius (actually, one of many) of DSSSL, mostly preserved in XSL(FO), was the flow object: an entity that could carry not only formatting directives and characteristics, but semantic traits as well. This might not have been such an obvious benefit in 1997, but after 2 decades of RDF and semantic web explorations it is much more relevant. Those who care greatly about the relationships between ideas, texts, and representations need a formalism such as flow objects in their computer applications. But such people, as Liam can attest, are a dwindling--and I would guess, aging--population. Regards, --Paul On Thu, 2018-01-18 at 16:41 +0000, Michael Kay mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > > > > However, CSS is so much easier to work with and is so much more > > accepted that the cost in functionality and spec fuzziness is far > > outweighed by the ability to use less-specialized personnel to do > > the styling work. > > > > > > > > > Same sad story really. Mediocrity always wins in the end. > > > Michael Kay > Saxonica > XSL-List info and archive > EasyUnsubscribe (by email)
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