Re: Interesting Read: The Emergence of the <?XML?>

[Art Pollard <pollarda@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, ____Textpert Alert____ wrote:

>   May I direct your attention to an introductory
>   6-part article on the [E]xtensible [M]arkup
>   [L]anguage by Dmitry Kirsanov: 
>   and especially to a subchapter
>   on its linking capabilities:
>   [STUFF DELETED] 
> http://www.webreference.com/dlab/books/html/38-4.html

I looked at the XML spec. some time ago for linking.  (Infact, I have a
copy within arms reach right now.)  I was.... Unimpressed.  I see links as
autonomous objects (much like classical programming language objects.)  If
you look at what people have done with various hypertext systems in the
past, (other than the WWW) the various links have attributes which can be
utilized in the displaying system.  For example, it makes sense to have
author, title (which the XML link spec has.), subject, explanation,
revision date, etc. all as part of the link.  Furthermore, links in past
systems have exhibited themselves as point to point, popup, search, etc.  

So, what do I think about the XML link spec.?  Except for the addition of
XML, I'd say it would be technologically timely if only they had come up
with it say... 25 years ago.  (And I suspect that Ted's vision would have
already surpassed it even then.)

For what it is worth, I do think that XML is a good idea.  After all, it
makes sense to have a standard markup technique for text which is easily
parsed and can be used to designate the structure of a document.  However,
I do not think that the XML link spec. is particularly adequate for things
other than delivering content across the web.

I think we all need to keep in mind that the Web is great for what it is
used for.  It makes a lot of sense to have a system such as the Web for
delivering brochures, building homepages, easy integration into databases
etc. However, it falls far short for use in actual publishing.

-Art

Art Pollard <PollardA@xxxxxxxxxx>
Moderator for Comp.Theory.Info-Retrieval
List Maintainer for the Hyper-Theory (Hypertext Theory) mailing list.