Re: inline HTML

Murray Altheim (murray.altheim@nttc.edu)
Mon, 22 May 1995 14:18:30 +0500

>> Quinn writes:
>> > Is there any chance for a tag allowing inline HTML? I'm really sick
>> > of having to cut out and paste in entire blocks of markup whenever
>> > they need updated.
[...]
>> Albert Lunde writes:
>
>I'm not an SGML expert, but I think this raises some SGML issues.
>
>I think SGML has an inclusion mechanism in the form of "entities"
>(though it is not generally supported in HTML).
>
>Introducing a general inclusion of HTML source makes in harder
>to verify that the result is valid HTML.
>
>Some other kinds of inclusion (i.e. treating the inclusion like
>a nested figure and parsing it as a distinct stream of SGML (if
>we could define what this meant)) might not raise the same issues.

I tend to agree that inline HTML could raise some major problems, both
technical and legal. I prefer managing it somehow through the editing
process, rather than by server or browser, especially since there are a
*LOT* of servers and browsers that currently don't handle it, and a break
would create a serious deficiency in the ability to read a document.

For example, if your browser doesn't support superscript, you can still
read the text, albeit in a degraded display format. If your browser doesn't
support the inlined HTML code, you get *nothing*. Sort of like
non-implementation of the <BASE> element, or those folks who create web
pages solely of inline GIFs with no ALT or alternative links.

I've implemented a document #includes (or "inline HTML") feature in the
latest version of my freeware Mac-based HTML editor (sorry for the plug),
and I used an customizable SGML-like entity format for the included code.
When the document is exported from the editor, the included document is
inserted into the text at the point of the entity. But now I'm a little
curious: what _exactly_ would a document #includes look like in SGML (ie.,
what would the actual tag look like)?

An example someone? Where could I find a spec?

Thanks for any assistance.

Murray

BTW, before I get a load of email, HTML.edit 1.7 will be available by COB
today (May 22), info at:

http://ogopogo.nttc.edu/tools/htmledit/htmledit.html

_________________________________________
Murray M. Altheim, Information Systems Analyst
National Technology Transfer Center, Wheeling, West Virginia
email: murray.altheim@nttc.edu
www: http://ogopogo.nttc.edu/people/maltheim/maltheim.html