Dear HTML Working Group:
Having some experience with HTML formatting, and having read the 6/15 2.0
specs and the latest 3.0 specs, and not having found what I was looking
for, I would like to propose several new HTML text formatting elements
for your consideration.
At our company, we created (and still use daily) a formatting scheme
several years ago called LASERQ so we could have an easy way to format
laser-printer docs. This scheme (which predates Windows and HTML) is
based on the same principle; however, in addition to {B} for bold, .TAB,
{C} for center, and such, we also use commands like .FONT (or {F###},
FILL, .JUSTIFY, and .LEFT (.RIGHT, etc) MARGIN. I posit that some of
these commands should be included to allow more control over (and more
creativity in) HTML text formatting.
Currently, the proposed formatting of many elements (particularly
Paragraphs) under 3.0 is limited to the ALIGN element (left, center,
right, justify). This does not allow as much control as could be
desired. For example, there is no way (that I know of) to incorporate an
HTML-formatted *indented* paragraph, save for using leading spaces and
displaying it all as Preformatted Text. This, however, disallows the use
of all but a few HTML attributes, and looks less attractive. It may be
possible to fox this via Table or some other way, but I haven't tried.
LEFT MARGIN could also be called INDENT, but the combined use of LEFT
MARGIN and RIGHT MARGIN allows much more flexibility. This is different
from the proposed "align=center" Paragraph command, since the text could
be also justified left, right, or both.
We use FILL and NOFILL to control whether text 'fills' a line. HTML
defaults to text fill, and there is no way to turn it off, though it's
possible to manually use BReaks. A NOFILL command would produce the same
effect as, and be superior to, the PRE command, since NOFILL would not
restrict the elements which could be used (as PRE does).
We also use another command: .POSITION, which specifies the absolute
print position. We use inches; HTML could use rows and columns. As
someone who's been learning HTML, I am convinced that this would
facilitate logical page formatting.
Another very useful command is .INCLUDE, which is expressed .INCLUDE
(document). We use a lot of 'boilerplate' in our printed material, and
use this command to simply haul in the contents of "doc.doc" from a
document on disk at the time the current doc is displayed/printed, rather
than physically cutting and pasting it in. Besides saving physical disk
space, it has the added advantage of allowing us to update the source
file -- say, a price list -- instead of having to update all the docs
which include the information. For conformity, HTML could incorporate it
as TEXT, much the way IMG is used: [TEXT SOURCE=/hshfiles/doc.doc], or
some such. Any additional formatting commands within "doc.doc" supercede
any on the page itself.
Other useful features are .PATTERN and .BOX. The former, expressed as
".PATTERN 1, 1.5, 3, .01", directs the printer to draw a line 1" from the
top margin, 1.5" from the left margin, 3" long, and .01" thick. It is
far more versatile than HR, and can duplicate anything HR can do.
The BOX command operates similarly, specifying in addition height and
width. It (and PATTERN) will, if used incautiously, overwrite any text
(or other patterns or boxes) in its way -- but we have used this to our
advantage upon occasion.
I also submit that HTML can and should include some rudimentary print
format commands. One thing I've noticed is that most HTML docs on Web
pages require more than one page to print, and that the printing is not
very controlled. For the benefit of users, I suggest that a PAGE-break
command would be useful for specifying a logical (forced) page break when
printing. Further, a means of specifying a header for each printed page
would be useful. We use SH (start header) and EH (end header).
I hope you will consider these suggestions in the helpful spirit I've
intended. I have enjoyed learning HTML (the more so because it's so
similar to LASERQ), and see great potential for it to allow much more
control and creativity to the benefit of both web authors and web users,
as well as the burgeoning off-line use of hypertext formatting.
If you have any questions or comments, I would be pleased to address them
at your convenience.
Paul Havemann
HSH Associates
paul@hsh.com