Re: [docbook-apps] Simpler XHTML output

[Larry Garfield <larry at garfieldtech dot com>]

Hi, Rene.

Exactly what do you mean by simpler?  Do you mean fewer 
style-free-by-default-divs, or do you mean leaving out the body 
attributes, layout tables, and other inline styling?

If you mean the many extra divs, then I think those actually help rather 
than hurt.  A nested div that has no style applied has no effect on the 
rendering of the page, and I don't believe it has a great deal of impact 
on the processing time, either.  Certainly not as much as nested tables 
or bad code.  However, it offers a ton of hooks to tie your CSS to, 
which in my few weeks of working with the DocBook XSL stylesheets I've 
already found to be very useful.

If you mean the latter, then I would agree.  More specifically, a 
"strict and pure" version of HTML/XHTML.  By default, the stylesheets 
produce Transitional code, and code that uses layout tables to boot. 
Bob's Book has instructions on modifying the templates to be 
strict-compliant, but for the most part they boil down to "and modify 
any templates needed to remove non-strict stuff".  Even then, switching 
to full-CSS layout instead of table-based layout for the navbars, for 
instance, would be very non-trivial since it's such a complex template. 
 (I've looked at it.  It's a weird beasty.  I'm glad someone else wrote 
it instead of me, because it's very cool. <g>)

I don't know how deeply the Transitional code is embedded within the 
standard scripts, so I don't know how difficult a generic "strict and 
pure" extension would be to write.  I know some XSLT (have been using it 
for years before I started using the DocBook XSL package, although 
nothing this elaborate), but I don't know if I'm up to the task.

Would anyone with more knowledge of the guts of the scripts be able to 
offer input?

Rene Hache wrote:
> To whom it may concern,
>
> I was wondering if anyone has done extensive work to create a simpler
> XHTML output from the XSL stylesheets?
>
> It is with great hesitancy that I send this email, because I
> understand the hard work that goes into these stylesheets -- so please
> don't take this as critisism. But I do believe that the XHTML outputs
> could be significantly simpler in terms of the code it outputs and
> achieve the same functionality. In fact, simpler XHTML outputs would
> make it significantly easier to manipulate the look via a css
> stylesheet. There is also a lot of redundant code that could easily be
> handled with a css stylesheet.
>
> If no one has ever attempted this but is interested, I don't mind
> assisting. I am by no means a XSL/XSLT programmer, but having a web
> standards web designer involved in this process might be useful.
>
> Thanks,
> Rene

--
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry@garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an 
idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it 
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