Re: Your views on changes to HTML+

Dave_Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
From: Dave_Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
Message-id: <9309171611.AA00581@manuel.hpl.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Your views on changes to HTML+
To: HARMO@valt.helsinki.fi
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 17:11:10 BST
Cc: www-talk@nxoc01.cern.ch
Mailer: Elm [revision: 66.36.1.1]
Status: RO
Timo Harmo says:

> Is <margin> like /marginpar in Latex? I hope it is, I am missing
> them. But marginpar's are presenteation stuff. What is the functional
> equivalent?

Yes <margin> is like /marginpar in Latex. It functions as a summary or
attention getter for the paragraph to which it applies. You could also render
it as a pin icon which when clicked shows a pinned note at the same point
(Using the pin icon familiar to Sun users). Footnotes tend to function as an
additional comment on the paragraph and likewise could be rendered as a
pin-note.

Note that <margin> notes when shown in the left margin should be right
justified. You can also supply a hint with headers that they appear in the
left margin. In this case they should left justified: <h4 margin>. This
attribute is perhaps overkill, and probably belongs in the style sheet.

I would also like to find a new name for summaries that often precede and
follow the main header for an article, and frequently include the author's
name. These are typically shown in a bigger font than the body of the article
itself. <byline> doesn't have the right feel. Perhaps <subhead> ? What
do you think?

(this would be introduced along with <section> and <header> as supplements
to <h1> to <h6>).

Dave


Dave