Re: Structured text v. page descriptions (was Netscape, HTML, and Designers)

Dave Hollander (dmh@hpfcma.fc.hp.com)
Thu, 27 Oct 1994 09:22:30 -0600

> At 9:38 AM 10/22/94, Gavin Nicol wrote:
>
> >While I agree with the overall content of Nick's message, I don't like
> >the way this implies you *can't* get good visual display with
> >structured documents.
>
> That's not implied at all. It's not a question of whether or not it looks
> good, it's a question of whether or not the document's creator has control
> over the appearance.

Should not the question be to what degree the creator has control? The
presentation fidelity issue is not black and white, there are shades of
gray. I believe that in the long run the winning approach will provide
the author enough control for a look and feel while allowing the reader
enough control to adopt the document to their tastes and environment.

Would this debate be more constructive if we discussed what control variables
there are and what level of control each party needs to have? Here is a
short list to start with:

* Wide variety of fonts

* Special characters

* Lists and tables

* Graphics
- Flowing text around graphics
- Captions on graphics

Dave Hollander

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Dave Hollander Hewlett-Packard
Internet Architect 3404 East Harmony Road, MS. 1U11
ESP Team Fort Collins, Colorado 80525
303-229-3192 dmh@corp.hp.com
Access HP (External) - http://www.hp.com
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