Re: [Fwd: Word Processors]

[Reklaw <nawalker earthlink net>]

On Wed, 16 Sep 1998 05:33:22 Timothy Ritchey wrote:
> It is awesome. I have a single document base that can be output into PS,
> HTML, RTF, etc. Now, I am not suggesting a full blown SGML, DSSSL WP.
> This might be a little much, however, I am wondering about how the XML
> would be implemented. I would like to see something that seperated the
> content of a document from its layout. One popular SGML DTD is DocBook.
> This specifies things like chapters, sections, paragraphs, program
> example, etc. could something like that be transfered to XML? I am not
> sure which parts of SGML XML leaves out, so don't know how much DocBook
> requires SGML's features. This might be something to look into. 

Just so everyone is on the same page....
You mean you something that lets you define styles (ie header, body, etc)
Then you just "markup" the text. Hate to tell but Word can do it
both ways, but its way too easy to overide the style.

XML doesn't define our tags, we would need to define a base set
in our spec. Of course the user would be able to add styles add will.
He/She should also be able to assign keybinding to the style.
For a UI, I'd like a drop-down thing of the "ribbon" (toolbar) for
markup.

> 
> Anyway, one thing that is important when considering content vs. layout
> is how the UI works. Most implement some s**ty pulldown menu. emacs
> psgml mode is nice in that it allows text entry of tags. an efficient
> and programmable way to deal with this issue would be a windfall. Any UI
> would have to take serious consideration of this.
> 
> No answers, just yacking, sorry.
> 

If you design the UI first you get locked into an operational model
that dictates a data model. We need a flexible data model first. Then
design a UI. Pulldown only is bad.
==========
Reklaw - I code therefore I need gin and sprite.
GNOME software projects - Pharmacy * gnome-standalone 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nawalker/