[Zope] RE: XML / XSL / DTD

Alexander Staubo alex@mop.no
Wed, 4 Aug 1999 14:04:29 +0200


Agreed. (Although nothing would prevent you from using DTML to output
different style-sheet headers depending on the environment.)

Acquisition -- something like
http://myserver/HighBandwidthHtml/MyDocument perhaps -- would be fine,
but how to specify a default style sheet? There might be cases where I
would want user-selectable style sheets through cookies, or a site-wide
default style sheets without the need to explicitly state it in the URL.

-- 
Alexander Staubo             http://www.mop.no/~alex/
"Elvis skipped around the car and threw open the trunk.
'Hoopla!' he was heard to say, 'This is a 7.62mm M134 General
Electric Minigun. Up to 6,000 rounds per minute. 7.62mm X 51 shells.
1.36kg recoil adaptors. Six muzzle velocity of 869m/s.'
'Oh,' said Rex, 'So that's what it is.'"
--Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us: Armageddon 2: The B-Movie_

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Tres Seaver [mailto:tseaver@palladion.com]
>Sent: 27. juli 1999 19:11
>To: Alexander Staubo; zope@zope.org
>Subject: XML / XSL / DTD
>
>
>
>
>Alexander Staubo wrote:
>> 
>> When I say XSL I mean XSL :-)  An early syntax for specifying a
>> style-sheet to render an arbitrary XML document was:
>> 
>>         <?xml-stylesheet href="BigAndBlusterousHtml.xsl" 
>type="text/xsl"
>> ?>
>> 
>> I don't know if this syntax has been preserved.
>> 
>> XSL style sheets can be used to transform an XML document, 
>but when Jim
>> Fulton mentioned XSL style sheets as being methods, I got somewhat
>> concerned that he meant for them to be specified explicitly. I would
>> rather have the option to render a specific set of documents using a
>> default style sheet, if invoked.
>
>
>I would argue AGAINST such embedding of a "default" 
>stylesheet, as follows:
>
>Mixing content and presentation trades off long-term flexibility and
>maintainability in favor of short-term convenience.  This 
>trade-off is the
>fundamental design flaw in HTML which makes XML so appealing.  
>An XML document
>is "about: structured content, with presentation issues 
>abstracted away.  No
>particular stylesheet is best to present that content in all 
>contexts;  better
>(and easy, with Zope's acquisition model) to allow the context 
>to specify
>presentation explicitly.
>
>-- 
>===============================================================
>=================
>Tres Seaver            tseaver@palladion.com      
http://www.palladion.com
Palladion Software     Houston, Texas, USA        713-523-6582