188 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
188 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
<!-- MHonArc v2.5.0b2 -->
|
|
<!--X-Subject: SGML vs other standards -->
|
|
<!--X-From-R13: Yvz Zrfgre <xvzNqshfvba.pbz.nh> -->
|
|
<!--X-Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 09:19:02 -0400 (EDT) -->
|
|
<!--X-Message-Id: 390ED47F.29843E70@dfusion.com.au -->
|
|
<!--X-Content-Type: text/plain -->
|
|
<!--X-Reference: Pine.LNX.4.10.10005020753270.11535-100000@bastion.hugo.vanderkooij.org -->
|
|
<!--X-Head-End-->
|
|
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>SGML vs other standards</title>
|
|
<link rev="made" href="mailto:kim@dfusion.com.au">
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<!--X-Body-Begin-->
|
|
<!--X-User-Header-->
|
|
<!--X-User-Header-End-->
|
|
<!--X-TopPNI-->
|
|
<hr>
|
|
[<a href="msg02140.html">Date Prev</a>][<a href="msg02142.html">Date Next</a>][<a href="msg02131.html">Thread Prev</a>][<a href="msg02129.html">Thread Next</a>][<a href="maillist.html#02141">Date Index</a>][<a href="threads.html#02141">Thread Index</a>]
|
|
<!--X-TopPNI-End-->
|
|
<!--X-MsgBody-->
|
|
<!--X-Subject-Header-Begin-->
|
|
<h1>SGML vs other standards</h1>
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<!--X-Subject-Header-End-->
|
|
<!--X-Head-of-Message-->
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><em>To</em>: ldp-discuss <<A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org">ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org</A>></li>
|
|
<li><em>Subject</em>: SGML vs other standards</li>
|
|
<li><em>From</em>: Kim Lester <<A HREF="mailto:kim@dfusion.com.au">kim@dfusion.com.au</A>></li>
|
|
<li><em>Date</em>: Tue, 02 May 2000 23:13:35 +1000</li>
|
|
<li><em>Organization</em>: Datafusion Systems Pty Ltd</li>
|
|
<li><em>References</em>: <<a href="msg02127.html">Pine.LNX.4.10.10005020753270.11535-100000@bastion.hugo.vanderkooij.org</a>></li>
|
|
<li><em>Resent-date</em>: Tue, 2 May 2000 09:19:02 -0400 (EDT)</li>
|
|
<li><em>Resent-from</em>: <A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org">ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org</A></li>
|
|
<li><em>Resent-message-id</em>: <0HC7YB.A.MQC.DWtD5@murphy></li>
|
|
<li><em>Resent-sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:ldp-discuss-request@lists.debian.org">ldp-discuss-request@lists.debian.org</A></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<!--X-Head-of-Message-End-->
|
|
<!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin-->
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End-->
|
|
<!--X-Body-of-Message-->
|
|
<pre>
|
|
Dear all,
|
|
|
|
Haven't been around for a while, but I noticed some comments
|
|
about why is SGML the standard? Why not others too.
|
|
|
|
I'm sure we aren't going to get into the great debate again
|
|
but I thought I'd share the following thoughts...
|
|
|
|
Once upon a time there was plain old text.
|
|
Then came basic systems that permitted words to be
|
|
made in bold or italics (if our daisy wheel
|
|
or dot matrix driver supported such things - for the older ones
|
|
amongst us remember EPSON FX80 codes etc)
|
|
|
|
Then WYSIWYG came along - brave new world stuff.
|
|
We all jumped on the band wagon (in the PC world at least)
|
|
and had all manner of fonts everywhere.
|
|
[You've seen the results of someone new to word processors
|
|
a different font on every line...]
|
|
|
|
When the web came about the natural extension was for a
|
|
simple wysiwyg system, hence HTML (based on the foundation of
|
|
SGML).
|
|
|
|
Meanwhile in unix land they stuck with nroff, troff etc
|
|
then came tex and latex. Only recently (eg StarOffice etc)
|
|
have we gone all gooey.
|
|
|
|
The problem is that there are now millions of pages on the
|
|
web and on corporate intranets. Sure they're all pretty and
|
|
individual but that really doesn't contribute to the
|
|
problem of turning data into information and thence knowledge
|
|
and understanding.
|
|
Almost none of this mass of info is properly indexed. The
|
|
results of search engines demonstrates some of the issues.
|
|
|
|
And yes I do have a point :)...
|
|
|
|
<soap box>
|
|
We now have too much data. We need data mining to sift
|
|
through it all. To do this we need structured data.
|
|
PRESENTATION IS ALMOST IRRELEVANT (I'm not saying unimportant
|
|
I'm saying irrelevant to this problem. given a well structured
|
|
document presentation is realtively trivial and will look better
|
|
than a hand crafted solution. IMHO most latex documents look
|
|
more uniform and elegant than any Word document, and you don't
|
|
spend hours agonising over tab stops etc).
|
|
|
|
We are all now just starting to move down the path of
|
|
structured information content. A relatively simple extensible
|
|
system that is human readable is required. SGML provides
|
|
a good environment to do this.
|
|
|
|
Now we can really start filtering and indexing data properly
|
|
and presenting in an appropriate manner on anything from a
|
|
TV set to a computer screen to a mobile phone. Why because
|
|
we know what the data is about, so we can be more intelligent
|
|
about how we present it.
|
|
|
|
This technology although reasonably well understood is still
|
|
in its infancy. Sure SGML editors seem like a step backward
|
|
because they don't focus on looks, but the power is greater.
|
|
It is a bit like windowing system vs command prompts, the latter
|
|
tend to be uglier but a re far more powerful.
|
|
Things will improve, we'll get good (free) SGML tools running
|
|
that strike a balance between structure and looks. A little bit
|
|
of visual aid and indentation is of benefit as a visual
|
|
cue to structure.
|
|
|
|
The last thing we need is to have another input format.
|
|
Sometimes democracy is bad. IMHO this one of those times.
|
|
One input standard is best for now whilst we develop this
|
|
technology. Multiple standards in this case will only hamper us.
|
|
|
|
BTW IMHO I disagree with someone's earlier comment that pictures
|
|
are bad. Pictures are good, very very good. If you have ever
|
|
tried describing something even simple like typing a bowline
|
|
without pictures you'll know what I mean. Computer things tend
|
|
to be much harder. More pictures. Sure maybe we restrict
|
|
ourselves to B&W vector formats for now. But we should be
|
|
pursuing some good drawing standards.
|
|
|
|
</Soap box>
|
|
|
|
best regards
|
|
|
|
Kim
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
Kim Lester
|
|
|
|
Senior Engineer,
|
|
Datafusion Systems Pty Ltd
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.dfusion.com.au/">http://www.dfusion.com.au/</A>
|
|
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to ldp-discuss-request@lists.debian.org
|
|
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
|
|
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
<!--X-Body-of-Message-End-->
|
|
<!--X-MsgBody-End-->
|
|
<!--X-Follow-Ups-->
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<!--X-Follow-Ups-End-->
|
|
<!--X-References-->
|
|
<ul><li><strong>References</strong>:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><strong><a name="02127" href="msg02127.html">Re: Something I would like to see</a></strong>
|
|
<ul><li><em>From:</em> Hugo.van.der.Kooij@caiw.nl</li></ul></li>
|
|
</ul></li></ul>
|
|
<!--X-References-End-->
|
|
<!--X-BotPNI-->
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Prev by Date:
|
|
<strong><a href="msg02140.html">Re: Questions about future</a></strong>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Next by Date:
|
|
<strong><a href="msg02142.html">Re: Questions about future</a></strong>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Previous by thread:
|
|
<strong><a href="msg02131.html">Re: Something I would like to see</a></strong>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Next by thread:
|
|
<strong><a href="msg02129.html">Re: Something I would like to see</a></strong>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Index(es):
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="maillist.html#02141"><strong>Date</strong></a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="threads.html#02141"><strong>Thread</strong></a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<!--X-BotPNI-End-->
|
|
<!--X-User-Footer-->
|
|
<!--X-User-Footer-End-->
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|