XLink - where are we? [tiny amount of frustration]

[Peter Murray-Rust]

At 03:07 11/11/98 -0500, Ralph Ferris wrote:
>
>Apparently, my announcement of HyBrick 0.8 on this list - and several
>others - has been completely overlooked by yourself and the other people
>holding this discussion. HyBrick 0.8 is a working implementation of
>XLink/XPointer available *now*. You can download the English-language menu
>version from our site at FSC: http://collie.fujitsu.com/HyBrick/.

It is - as far as I know - the most advanced XLink implementation. 
I have some problems with Hybrick and I'd be grateful from clarification on
certain points. These aren't meant to detract from what has been done.

(a) it appears to be primarily an SGML tool rather than an XML one. The
DTDs shipped with the distribution all have minimisation controls (or
whatever the "- o" is called). When I try to run any of my XML files it
throws errors on the files.

(b) the XML files appear to reference these SGML (non-XML) DTDs so although
it may be valid SGML it doesn't seem to be valid XML. I suspect it may need
a catalog since one is shipped with it.

(c) it appears to require all applications to have a stylesheet - i.e.
there is no default display and it's therefore primarily for rendering XML
as text with hyperlinks.

(d) the license restricts use to evaluation only which means it is not
really usable for experimentation - especially without an API, etc. For
example, I cannot demonstrate it to students.

	P.

Peter Murray-Rust, Director Virtual School of Molecular Sciences, domestic
net connection
VSMS http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vsms, Virtual Hyperglossary
http://www.venus.co.uk/vhg

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