Re: Style sheets for HTML

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Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1993 13:51:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rob Raisch <raisch@ora.com>
Subject: Re: Style sheets for HTML
To: Dave_Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
Cc: www-talk@nxoc01.cern.ch
In-reply-to: <9306110854.AA00997@manuel.hpl.hp.com>
Message-id: <Pine.3.03.9306131345.J23070-c100000@ruby.ora.com>
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On Fri, 11 Jun 1993, Dave_Raggett wrote:

> I read your style sheet proposal with great interest, and will add the
> "style" attribute to the LINK tag attribute definition in the DTD.

	Cool.

> Have you considered allowing multiple stylesheets to cover different uses?
> This would mean that you could specify one style for printing and another for
> online use. You might want to go further and distinguish between X windows,
> PC's and palmtops.
> 
> My suggestion is that the LINK element takes another attribute which specifies
> the intended media, e.g.
> 
>         <LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/paper_a4" media="paper/A4">
>         <LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/paper_B5" media="paper/B5">
>         <LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/xwindows" media="xwindows">        
> 
> Multiple such elements could be included in each HTML+ document.
> 
> Note that the media attribute value can encode further parameters - paper
> size in the above example. By defining the media attribute as taking a CDATA
> value, we can allow for new types of media without needing to change the DTD.
> 
> Comments please?

Hmmmm.... I would rather carry this information in the stylesheet itself. 
I seems rather wasteful to me to have 5 or 6 media links in the same
document.

I would suggest though that this is not of general use.  The stylesheet,
as proposed is really a collection of hints or suggestions for the
renderer to make decisions to best represent the content of a document in
a style which most meets the original intent of the author.

As such, there are general regions of responsibility which I feel we can
suggest complience with, (fonts, indents, etc.), and other more specific
areas which quickly become "a maze of twisty little suggestions, all alike."
I do not think that we really need nor want to specify this to the level
of the actual media used to realize the document.

I believe that it is up to the individual renderer to make the "proper
decisions" regarding the differences in printing in phosphors or ink, and
how a document looks on different page sizes.

Comments?  Am I off base here?  

</rr>