Preference Files

[david at megginson.com]

Simon St.Laurent writes:

 > Has anyone started work on a standard DTD for preference files, or
 > is the expectation that everyone's going to do their own
 > differently?  It seems like something that might be useful,
 > especially in the context of some of the browser development issues
 > that have been discussed here lately.
 > 
 > If anyone knows of an existing one and wants to promote it, I'm
 > writing a chapter...  The current material uses a custom-built
 > preference file, but I'd like to generalize it.

It sounds like a good application of RDF, if you're a believer.  

Actually, one of the problems is that a generalised document type will
always mean more work than a customised one.  For example, it might be
easier for users to understand


<netscape-config>
 <security>
  <allow-cookies>no</allow-cookies>
  <enable-javascript>no</enable-javascript>
 </security>
</netscape-config>

than

<config type="netscape>
 <section>
  <title>Security</title>
  <boolean-option>
   <name>allow-cookies</name>
   <value>no</value>
  </boolean-option>
  <boolean-option>
   <name>enable-javascript</name>
   <value>no</value>
  </boolean-option>
 </section>
</config>

On the other hand, it's easier to write reusable software that deals
with the second case.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david at megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/

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