Re: Images & mouseovers

by "David Meadows" <david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk>

 Date:  Wed, 27 Sep 2000 21:41:21 +0100
 To:  "Bryan Bateman" <batemanb(at)home.com>
 Cc:  <hwg-xml(at)hwg.org>
 References:  idyllmtn astra workhorse
  todo: View Thread, Original
> What current technologies are available to present web content using SGML
> (client or server side)?  Do these same solutions also make provision to
> pull from a database?

What technologies are available to present Web content using SGML? Well,
HTML itself, for a start, which is an SGML application. And yes of course
you can pull information from a database into an HTML page. However, that's
has little to do with the point I was making.

My point was: SGML is a very robust, versatile technology. Its central idea
is that all documents *must* have a DTD. The DTD ensures that your documents
are properly structured and that they can correctly interpreted ("rendered",
if you like) by your intended audience. Then XML comes along and starts
cutting corners, throwing out all element of SGML which are deemed
unnecessary. One of the things thrown out is the requirement for a DTD. This
may be convenient for the [lazy] XML writer, but it's not a robust solution.

How many times have the HTML gurus on the HWG lists cried "validate validate
validate" in response to somebody's problem? (And I'm sure I could find
Kynn's own posts in the archives to back that up.) Well guess what?
Validating your HTML *is* a good idea (they're not called gurus for
nothing). It lets you spot errors and it enforces compatibility with the
chosen browser (or it would if browser writers knew what they were doing --
but that's another story). Well, guess what you need before you can
validate? A DTD. Guess what the XML people threw out of XML? _ ___!

Anyway, that's the point I was trying to make. A DTD is a Good Thing.

--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books
 are well written, or badly written. That is all."
  -- Oscar Wilde



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Bateman" <batemanb(at)home.com>
To: "David Meadows" <david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk>; "Kynn Bartlett"
<kynn-hwg(at)idyllmtn.com>
Cc: "KathyW" <kathyw(at)home.albury.net.au>; <hwg-xml(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 1:10 AM
Subject: Re: Images & mouseovers


> I am open to all opinions.  Please elaborate.
>
> What current technologies are available to present web content using SGML
> (client or server side)?  Do these same solutions also make provision to
> pull from a database?
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Meadows" <david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk>
> To: "Bryan Bateman" <batemanb(at)home.com>; "Kynn Bartlett"
> <kynn-hwg(at)idyllmtn.com>
> Cc: "KathyW" <kathyw(at)home.albury.net.au>; <hwg-xml(at)hwg.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 12:02 AM
> Subject: Re: Images & mouseovers
>
>
> > "Kynn Bartlett" <kynn-hwg(at)idyllmtn.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I didn't write a DTD for it; it's pretty ad-hoc.  I don't have a
> > > formal schema or anything.  (The cool thing about XML is that
> > > you don't have to have a DTD!  Well, not a formal one.)
> >
> > You're sure that's a "cool thing"? You don't think it's more of an
> "unwanted
> > side effect"?
> >
> > Sorry to play devil's advocate all the time Kynn, but coming from an
SGML
> > background I find XML downright sloppy and annoying a lot of the time.
> >
> >
> > --
> > David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
> > DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk
> >
> > "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books
> >  are well written, or badly written. That is all."
> >   -- Oscar Wilde
> >
> >
>
>

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