First a few words on what I am doing ...
I am drafting the DTD for HTML+ which will be the successor to HTML. The
new standard will be largely compatible with HTML but will standardise
features such as embedded images, figures and add new ones such as tables,
and forms. You can look at the current state of the DTD (work in progress)
at "ftp://info.cern.ch/pub/www/dev/htmlplus.dtd.txt". I hope to finalise
the HTML+ standard this summer, and issue it formally as an RFC.
We would very much like to ensure the new standard meets the needs for a
generic, lightweight, presentation independent delivery format for publishers
and the Internet community at large. Terry Allen, editor of the Digital Media
Group has already been very helpful, and I would like to encourage other
members of O'Reilly & Associates to contribute their views too.
I read your style sheet proposal with great interest, and will add the
"style" attribute to the LINK tag attribute definition in the DTD.
Have you considered allowing multiple stylesheets to cover different uses?
This would mean that you could specify one style for printing and another for
online use. You might want to go further and distinguish between X windows,
PC's and palmtops.
My suggestion is that the LINK element takes another attribute which specifies
the intended media, e.g.
<LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/paper_a4" media="paper/A4">
<LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/paper_B5" media="paper/B5">
<LINK style="http://ora.com/styles/xwindows" media="xwindows">
Multiple such elements could be included in each HTML+ document.
Note that the media attribute value can encode further parameters - paper
size in the above example. By defining the media attribute as taking a CDATA
value, we can allow for new types of media without needing to change the DTD.
Comments please?
Dave Raggett,
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Hewlett Packard Laboratories, +44 272 228046
Bristol, England dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com