Re: Proposal for an Outlining Markup Scheme for HTML 3.0

Daniel W. Connolly (connolly@beach.w3.org)
Thu, 13 Jul 1995 11:20:18 -0400


In message <ac289a68050210041f09@[128.96.140.133]>, Keith Rettig writes:
>
> An outline-display mechanism similar to that provided by most word
>processors would be useful for HTML browsers.

Yup. Have you seen -- um, it's one of the NeXT browsers: I think
it's Omniweb -- that does this? It allows you to display and edit
any HTML document as an outline/hotlist. Kinda like the NetScape
bookmark editor, but more flexible.

>Codes:
>
><OUTLINE></OUTLINE>
>Marks the beginning and ending of the outline.

Huh? Why do you need special markup? What's wrong with <Hn>,
<UL>, <DL>, anchors, etc.?

>
>Coding Example:
>
>An example using the HTML outline mark-up as proposed.
>
><OUTLINE LABELS=3D1.1.1.1.1 ALIGN=3DLeft INDENT=3D2 LEVEL=3D2 TYPE=3DPlus>
><OH>Section One
> <OT>This is an introduction to Section One</OT>
> <OH>Section One Dot One
> <OH>Section One Dot One Dot One</OH>
> <OH>Section One Dot One Dot Two</OH>
> </OH>
> <OH><A HREF=3D"somefile.html">Section One Dot Two</A>
> <OT>This is Section One Dot Two's body.</OT>
> </OH>
></OH>
><OH>Section Two
> <OT>This is an introduction to Section Two</OT>
></OH>
></OUTLINE>

Allow me to suggest an alternative:

Section One

This is an introduction to Section One

Section One Dot One

Section One Dot One Dot One

Section One Dot One Dot Two

Section One Dot Two

This is Section One Dot Two's body.

Section Two

This is an introduction to Section Two

</body>

Omniweb manages to do this collapse/expand stuff without even
the <div> markup. But it's outline view only allows one line per
item -- no multi-line paragraphs or anything like that.

Dan