Re: Tables and Charts

Paul Prescod (papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca)
Sat, 8 Jul 1995 16:47:34 -0400 (EDT)


> I think it depends what you think is easiest;
>
> <TABLE CLASS="2dpie.My2DPieChart">, with
> TABLE.2dpie.My2DPieChart : (etc, etc)
>
> or;
>
> <TABLE CLASS="my2dpiechart">, with
> TABLE.my2dpiechart : renderstyle.type = 2dpie
>
> They both come out evens, really.

I would like to disagree, a little. The difference is that the former
explicitly specifies that a My2dPieChart isa 2dpie in the HTML source. There
might well be a host of tools set up for working with 2dpie's that work
fine with my2dpiechart's because that relationship is explicit in the
source.

> I'd only note that we're getting (once again) dangerously close to
> introducing more presentation-orientated features into HTML by
> specifying the chart type by saying that a table of CLASS="2dpie" is
> a 2D-Pie chart. Like all the other "hints" regarding presentation,
> I for one would prefer them to live in stylesheets with a more
> content orientated value used for the CLASS attribute (say,
> CLASS="meters.readings.june" or CLASS="building.floor.areas").

I agree, let us instead look at an example like this:

<ADDRESS CLASS="internet">
<ADDRESS CLASS="internet.url">
<ADDRESS CLASS="internet.email">
<ADDRESS CLASS="internet.email.personal">
<ADDRESS CLASS="internet.email.business">

Now, ignoring style sheets altogether, I can do all kinds of interesting
queries on the file. Style sheets are a particular application of this
type of subclassing, but not the only one.

Paul Prescod