Re: XyWrite as an HTML editor

[Paul Williams paulwilliams5@xxxxxxxx]

K,

Sorry. You asked what other people thought. So here are some off the cuff
thoughts ...

The thinking is that as both XyWrite and HTML are tagged formats there should be
a simple way of bringing the two together. Indeed I have a very simple XPL
program that attempts to do just that, and I suspect there are other far better
ones around (in the mammoth U2 add on that I have not fully investigated yet?)

HotMetalPro has a publish function. Don't know what it does but it seems to me
that if XyWrite had a HTML printer table to do the substitutions that would have
the effect of creating an HTML file from a straightforward XyWrite file. K
pointed out that one big difference is that XyWrite was written with typesetting
composition in mind - after all it was spun off from Atex - while HTML is very
primitive. But printer files put in line endings automatically, don't they?

A bigger issue may be the graphics. A question for K:

Does SmartWords have the graphic abilities of XyWin? And have you extended it to
include other formats than .BMP?

Are we correct in thinking that we can consider the slimmed down version of
Smart Words you have referred to as an effective XyWin5?

In view of the massive growth of the Internet I would have thought that
SmartWords must embrace HTML somehow. Of course the ideal would be if XML was
indeed XyWrite ... Language :)

PW






Frank Kenneth B. wrote:

> You're right that such an enhancement would probably be relatively easy, but
> I'm not sure what it would accomplish. If we didn't attempt to process any
> of the commands I doubt that the text without any visible tags would mean
> very much.
>
> All of the visible structure of an HTML document, as well as any hyperlinks,
> graphics, etc., is determined by the tags. If we suppress the tags and
> don't process them (and don't of course have any of our commands in the
> file) I suspect the file would be a mess to look at. Just switch back and
> forth between a reasonably complex HTML file in one window, and a copy of
> that same file in another window where you have done a search and replace to
> remove all the tags, and see what it looks like.
>
> What do others think?
>
> K.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Giering [mailto:dick.giering@xxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 1999 1:23 PM
> To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: XyWrites 4 and 5 (was: RE: Dataviz and xyW)
>
> Ref to Ken Frank's answer on this subject:
>
> Hi Ken:
>  Thanks for your comments ... this is not to
> start or continue a "great debate", BUT I believe
> a single enhancement - which I can't see as being
> so technologically difficult - would be an
> additional display mode ONLY. The mode would be
> the same as Draft mode, but with ALL angle
> bracketed commands (including the end command)
> buried within a square similar to the XYWrite
> commands being embedded in a triangle.
>  If, as I assume, this is a relatively simple
> (cost and technological) enhancement), it should
> GO A LONG WAY to answering the question of whether
> there is a market out there and, if there is,
> justify investment OR NOT. Without some action
> such as this everything we say on our end and you
> say on your end is equally supposition.
>  No need to decipher links, bolds, underlines,
> tables, lists, et al. These could come later
> AFTER the investment is or is not justified.
> Thanks for letting me spout off!
> Dick Giering
>
> "Frank Kenneth B." wrote:
> >
> > I don't want to start up a whole debate, but it's worth making the
> following > points:
> >
> > 1. Making XyWrite into a HTML editor is anything but a minor enhancement.
> > "strip" ...