RE: Anyone using XSLT? Anyone interested?

It is my opinion that all of the mentioned tools will support XML and 
XSL directly.   One problem that XML has - and that all of the new 
specs have had (eg javascript, CSS, Java) - is that it takes a long 
time for a critical mass of users to implement enabled clients 
(browsers).  So XML/XSL will be - is being - initially implemented 
server-side.  There are now a large number of server-sided 
products that support XSL transformations.  The reason that XML 
and XSL will be so successful has of course to do with the features 
they offer.  The reason they were worked-out in the first place was, 
(amongst others), to overcome the shortcomings of HTML.  When 
sufficient users are employing browsers that support XSL (and the 
newest browsers do) to make a client-sided implementation 
sensible, there will be no reason to keep marking-up files with 
HTML.  The race is on to see who can first implement web-design 
tools that completely support these new specs and provide the 
richest feature-set.


> > It sounds cool alright ... but I'm a bit concerned it may be too
> > pie-in-the-sky, particularly from the authoring end. If 
> > Dreamweaver, HomeSite,
> > FrontPage, ColdFusion et al ad nauseum don't support it, many 
> > authors won't use
> > it. WAP is in strife in Europe, WebTV has not taken off as 
> > the marketers had
> > hoped, phones are virtually useless as web-enabled devices 
> > etc. I'm concerned
> > there won't be more than niche market appeal. Still, it 
> > really is a cool
> > concept - please keep the list posted.
> 
> Humm, Well ColdFusion Studio (and I assume Homesite) both support WML and
> hence XML.  So does the latest version of Dreamweaver.
> 
> Since HTML is (theoretically) being replaced by XHTML all of the leading
> authoring tools will have to support XML to stay at the top.
> 
> The ColdFusion language it's self IS XML, but loose (ie you CAN close all
> tags XML style, but it will let you get away with out closing some tags).
> 
> The Allaire Spectra product (the people who gave us ColdFusion) is written
> in ColdFusion and is almost pure XML.  All data is stored in a database as
> WDDX (Web something Data Exchange) format, which is XML, yada, yada, yada.
> 
> WAP is only in strife in Europe because, well because it's a bit crap and
> has been over sold by mobile telecoms providers.  Here in the UK one of the
> largest cell providers, BTCellnet have TV ads of a little man surfing
> through a rich graphical world when the phone user switches their phone on -
> doesn't remind me of using my WAP phone!
> 
> Over in Japan they didn't cell i-Mode (which uses the CHTML subset of the
> HTML language) as the PC Internet on a cell phone so everyone is happy.  OK,
> so this is helped by the fact that PC Internet take-up has been snail like
> due to high land line call charges so mobile access is most users first
> experience of the net, but that's going off topic.
> 
> WebTV, well it just sucks and everyone seems to have abandoned it in favour
> of iTV.
> 
> And let us not forget Project Gutenberg, which is marking up books as XML
> thanks to the HWG.
> 
> Mark Stradling
> 

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