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From: dseibert@sqwest.bc.ca (David Seibert)
Subject: Re: progressive DSSSL? [was: Alternatives to Pitting HTML against SGML]
Message-ID: <1996Jul31.162055.20977@sqwest.bc.ca>
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Surrey, B.C. CANADA
References: <1996Jul29.233115.16330@sq.com> <yprnivb5cf2d.fsf_-_@anansi.w3.org> <4tmrhm$1l3@blackice.winternet.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 16:20:55 GMT
Lines: 33
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.text.sgml:14569 comp.lang.scheme:16272 comp.lang.modula3:7135 comp.lang.python:11745

In article <4tmrhm$1l3@blackice.winternet.com> sgml@subzero.winternet.com (Copernican Solutions Incorporated) writes:
>In article <yprnivb5cf2d.fsf_-_@anansi.w3.org>,
>Dan Connolly <connolly@anansi.w3.org> wrote:
>
>>And even if there were such a Q&D implementation, I bet it would
>>slurp the whole document into memory, and then march through the
>>DSSSL queries, building flow objects. That won't work in an
>>interactive situation.
>
>Yes, DSSSL really should have a complete grove to be useful.  Thus,
>people might have to wait until the document is loaded to be able to
>see the document.  This could be optimzed by a smart DSSSL browser
>to figure out if the style sheet requires the grove be complete (e.g.
>it uses queries).  If it doesn't require it, the browser could use
>some partial-grove algorithm to process the document.
>
>I haven't addressed the issue of processing documents as they
>are loaded.  I have some ideas--but they are just that.  Someone
>needs to do some research to see what constraints you must apply
>to be able to do so--not every DSSSL style sheet can be processed
>as the grove is built.  

It would certainly be very useful if someone identified the maximal
subset (or some approximation to that) of dsssl processing instructions
that can be implemented on a partial grove, to give web authors some
guidance in how to construct dsssl stylesheets.  Having a smart browser
is a good idea, but it doesn't help much if authors don't produce
stylesheets that can be used to display partial groves, so you don't
want to leave that to chance, eh?  This sounds to me like something
that should definitely be part of DSSSL-o.  

David

