Why I Hate Palmtops (was: Re: SGML, XML and SML)

[Tim Bray]

At 03:33 AM 11/28/99 -0500, rev-bob at gotc.com wrote:
>> >I have a hard time visualizing radical internationalization on a tiny 
>> >screen.  Anglo-
>> >centric characters, I get.  Asian scripts and Cyrillic...well, those seem 
>> >a bit out of
>> >range.  Again, am I missing something?  
>> 
>> Yes.  Approximately 75% of the world's population. -Tim
>
>No, I meant "Am I missing something about the available screens, so that 
>these visually 
>complex glyphs are actually easier to display on them than I currently 
>believe?"  

In Japan, lots of people use pocket-size electronic organizers, and 
these things seem to have no trouble displaying kanji.  

The Rev has a point though: the difficulty of rendering text properly,
particularly in an internationalized environment, substantially exceeds
the difficulty of parsing XML.  Like, by orders of magnitude.  Draw your
own conclusions. -Tim

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