Re: pages in texts

by "Frank Boumphrey" <bckman(at)ix.netcom.com>

 Date:  Sun, 5 Mar 2000 20:56:58 -0500
 To:  "Murray Altheim" <altheim(at)eng.sun.com>
 Cc:  <hwg-gutenberg(at)hwg.org>, <hwg-gutenberg-dtds(at)hwg.org>
 References:  prioritynetworks sun prioritynetworks2 sun2
  todo: View Thread, Original
and I can only caution those performing the
> interim markup that their efforts may be partly or largely wasted

well, their efforts will not be wasted, because we will be maintaining these
interim DTD's, even though we will not be using them as a basis for the
development of the 'official DTD's

> I might note that there is some danger in that the structures being used
> in these interim DTDs might make it difficult or impossible to transform
> them into a future DTD, as there's no guarantee that there are corollary
> structures between the two.

whereas this is possible, i don't think it is probable. There is a limit to
the number of components a book can have, and as I took the curent
components out of "Elements of Typography", the "Chicago Manual of Style",
and Hugh Williamsons "Book structures", I would be suprised if there will be
a huge gap in the component architecture.

However I don't want to concentrate on the short-comings of the current
DTD's, I would rather we concentrate on putting to gether a really good
series of DTD's with out reference (at least initially) to other DTD's out
there.

or alternately (given the Gutenberg 'process')
> they could concentrate on scanning and editing rather than actual markup.

Actually this is not really an option. I anticipate the development of a new
DTD will be a six month process, and I think it impracticable to ask all our
enthusiatic volunteers to wait that period of time. Also note that although
we are partnered with the Gutenberg process, we are also seperate from it.
Scanning and editing (which requires different skill sets from markup) is
best carried out by Project Gutenberg proper who have a wealth of experience
in this.

Best regards,
Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: Murray Altheim <altheim(at)eng.sun.com>
To: Frank Boumphrey <bckman(at)ix.netcom.com>
Cc: <hwg-gutenberg(at)hwg.org>; <hwg-gutenberg-dtds(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2000 7:58 PM
Subject: Re: pages in texts


> Frank Boumphrey wrote:
> >
> > Yes,
> >
> > I agree they are mix models. They also contain a lot of meta markup
> >
> > "|txterr|mkuperr" and "pagenum" can be considered meta data.
> >
> > I'm afraid that the current DTD's are very flawed in many ways, and
> > hopefully we will be able to adress these flaws when we move on to
making an
> > 'official' dtd.
> >
> > However the current DTD's are at least allowing us to mark up documents!
>
> I might note that there is some danger in that the structures being used
> in these interim DTDs might make it difficult or impossible to transform
> them into a future DTD, as there's no guarantee that there are corollary
> structures between the two. The existence of XSLT does not guarantee that
> transformation is possible, and I can only caution those performing the
> interim markup that their efforts may be partly or largely wasted, as
> sometimes it's more work doing transformation (ie., writing tools,
scripts,
> stylesheets, etc. to do this) than starting over from scratch.
>
> Perhaps if these volunteers could even wait a few months until the TC gets
> even a beginning idea of the final structures in the markup there'd be
> less an issue with this, or alternately (given the Gutenberg 'process')
> they could concentrate on scanning and editing rather than actual markup.
>
> Murray
>
>
...........................................................................
> Murray Altheim
<mailto:altheim&#x40;eng.sun.com>
> XML Technology Center
> Sun Microsystems, Inc., MS MPK17-102, 1601 Willow Rd., Menlo Park, CA
94025
>
>    the honey bee is sad and cross and wicked as a weasel
>    and when she perches on you boss she leaves a little measle -- archy

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