Re: Concerns about HTML+ complexity

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• Reply: Ken Fox: "Re: Concerns about HTML+ complexity"

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Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 11:33:43 +0200
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From: Dave Raggett <dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
Subject: Re: Concerns about HTML+ complexity
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Ken,

> <h2>HTML+ is too large and complex</h2>

> <p> One of the great things about HTML is its small size.  This means that
> browsers can be created easily (well, almost :-) and that new users have
> virtually no trouble learning how to create documents.

I agree with your design goals for a simple markup format, and the need
to keep HTML simple. I don't agree that HTML+ is complicated - in fact I
went to great pains to keep it simple. The DTD may be complicated, but
that is largely due to the way I modularised it.

IMHO the HTML+ table format is one of the simplest around, and as evidence
of that, it has been adopted by other SGML working groups such as TEI. The
switch to <P> as a container is in line with other SGML formats and makes
it practical to set paragraph alignment. It also simplifies implementations.

People do want richer control of how their documents appear, but rather than
complicate HTML, our plan is to introduce linked style sheets. HTML+ allows
authors to include an SGML ID attribute with all elements. This is used by
style sheets to name individual elements, so you can specify rendering
behaviour by tag name e.g. all H1 headers, and over-ride this class behaviour
for a specific header.

I fully agree with the goal of reducing the cost of entry for people who
which to experiment with new browsers etc. To this end we want to make
browsers into a set of cooperating applets, tied together by a messaging
scheme. The OpenDoc architecture will probably have something to offer
us here.
--
Best wishes,

Dave Raggett

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