[Fwd:] XS discussion begins

[Jon Bosak]

[The following message was just posted to the w3c-sgml-wg list.
Please note that the draft document referred to in the message is
intended for DSSSL implementors already familiar with ISO/IEC 10179,
but readers of this list may find the flow object taxonomy and tables
of characteristics interesting.  All follow-ups should be made to the
DSSSList.]

In the SGML ERB meeting of May 14, it was agreed that preliminary
discussion of xml-style (Part 3 of the XML specification suite) should
take place in parallel with our current task of finishing drafts of
xml-lang and xml-link, but in a different forum in order to prevent
that discussion from interfering with our deadlines for Parts 1 and 2.
Since xml-style has always been defined as based on a subset of DSSSL,
it was agreed that the discussion could begin with a draft that puts
the existing DSSSL Online (dsssl-o) specification in a form that can
easily be made into a Working Draft for XML Part 3 when the time
arrives for us to officially turn our attention to that part of the
activity.

I have now completed such a draft, which can be found at

 http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/standards/dsssl/xs/xs970522.ps.zip

When unzipped, this file should print out with no trouble on most
PostScript printers, and it displays well in the Solaris Image Tool.
If you wish, you can use an RTF viewer by downloading

 http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/standards/dsssl/xs/xs970522.rtf.zip

but in this case, you may get formatting somewhat different from what
I intended.  The RTF file was prepared by taking Jade output into
Microsoft Word and manually inserting page breaks in certain places;
no other hand work was performed.  The PS version was generated
directly from the massaged RTF using Word's LaserWriter II print
driver.  I hope to have an HTML version of the document available in
the next week or so.

In preparing this draft, I have incorporated a number of corrections
to do960816.htm kindly provided by Tony Graham (although I cannot
guarantee that all of his corrections were correctly performed) and
done major surgery on the prose descriptions of the flow object
classes, entirely eliminating the problematic language inherited from
the DSSSL committee draft of September 1995 and starting over with
language from the final committee draft, lightly edited for
consistency with its new context.  This should have fixed a lot of
problems that were formerly caused by forking the version tree but has
no doubt introduced some new ones.  I am relying on reviewers to help
with the work of correcting errors in this new version.

In anticipation of its merger into the XML suite in a couple of
months, the former dsssl-o application profile is now referred to
throughout the document as "xml-style," or more frequently "XS" for
short.  Our unofficial motto (arrived at over drinks in Barcelona) is

                      Nothing exceeds like XS.

Please note, however, that despite its name and its look, this
document is *not* in any way, shape, or form a W3C Working Draft.  In
fact, it is not a W3C document of any kind.  It is just a revision of
the dsssl-o application profile that has been circulating in one form
or another for over a year and a half.  Consequently, discussion of
the draft should take place on the list devoted to DSSSL, which you
can find out about from the http://www.mulberrytech.com/dsssl/dssslist
page.  Since this is not a W3C draft, and since the whole point of
this exercise is to move forward on the groundwork for XML Part 3
without interfering with the work on XML Parts 1 and 2, it is
essential that you DO NOT DISCUSS THIS DRAFT ON THE W3C-SGML-WG LIST.
Please confine all discussions to DSSSList or to other appropriate
public lists (though offhand I can't think of any others that would be
appropriate).

I will follow up on this message with another one to the DSSSList
setting forth some suggested guidelines for the XS discussion.

Jon

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jon Bosak, Online Information Technology Architect, Sun Microsystems
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 2550 Garcia Ave., MPK17-101,           |  Best is he that inuents,
 Mountain View, California 94043        |  the next he that followes
 Davenport Group::SGML Open::ANSI X3V1  |  forth and eekes out a good
 ::ISO/IEC JTC1/SC18/WG8::W3C SGML ERB  |  inuention.
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