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Re: Re: Stylesheets vs. DTDs or XML Schemas

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  • Subject: [mg61480] Re: [mg61430] Re: Stylesheets vs. DTDs or XML Schemas
  • From: Chris Chiasson <chris.chiasson at gmail.com>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:07:31 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <200510170629.CAA16347@smc.vnet.net> <dj26iu$bbg$1@smc.vnet.net> <200510190616.CAA16648@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I must admit to being lost on the XEmacs and PSGML - I know Emacs is
an editor, and that XEmacs is probably the X-Windows version, but -
what does it do??
I know SGML is some kind of markup language (convention?), and that it
is the language of DTDs.

As far as style and layout, Mathematica applies the style sheet rules,
which allows for separation of form and content. However, the user can
override the style sheet at any particular point in a document,
inserting form directives right into the middle of the content. In
this respect, the notebook format is kinda like HTML+CSS (instead of
CSS+XTML strict) - one can do it both ways.

On 10/19/05, Steven T. Hatton <hattons at globalsymmetry.com> wrote:
> Chris Chiasson wrote:
>
> > Look up NotebookML, ExpressionML, etc
>
> I am aware of these, and I believe they are worth learning.  They may even
> provide some of what I'm describing.  Nonetheless, I don't believe I can
> create my own DTD or XML syntax definition and feed it to Mathematica as a
> means of defining document structure.
>
> > So, what do you intend to do with these theorems and proofs, etc? If
> > you only want to store information without worrying about style, you
> > could just assign it to a symbol (or even use the object oriented
> > extensions to Mathematica that I have seen floating around on one of
> > the WRI RSS feeds to which I subscribed).
>
> Basically, my objective is the original objective of SGML.  I would like to
> have the kind of support I get with PSGML and (X)Emacs.  That could get
> rather challenging when it comes to dealing with Mathematica InputForm.
>
> > One problem you may run into is that Mathematica's integrated style
> > and layout capabilities are not as good as CSS + XHTML. Heh, Publicon
> > can't even do a two column layout.
>
> One problem I have with the way stylesheets are used in Mathematica is that
> they mix structure with layout.  Currently what I most want is the ability
> to work with the textual parts of documents in a more structured way.  It
> would be nice to be able to feed Mathematica an expression in internal
> form, and have it automagically transformed into the style I specify for
> such things as differentiation operators and matrices.  That may be far too
> difficult to accomplish, especially if I also want to provide input in the
> transformed form.
> --
> A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
> Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
> A: Top-posting.
> Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
>
>
>


--
Chris Chiasson
http://chrischiasson.com/contact/chris_chiasson


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