[sword-devel] Web Interface

sword-devel@crosswire.org sword-devel@crosswire.org
Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:53:35 EST


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In a message dated 2/21/2003 2:30:34 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
delbourne@cox.net writes:

> I have 3 requests. Standards. Standards. Standards. Standards. oops that was
> 4. :) IMNSHO we should go with XHTML/CSS and separate the semantic
> structural markup from the display style.
> <A HREF="http://www.webstandards.org/">http://www.webstandards.org/</A>

First of all, there are STANDARD for HOW we implement these ui features based 
on in the web interface- as you mentioned- character code standard, w3c 
standard, RFC, Internet draft, etc. 

However, there are NO standard about WHAT we are going to implement in the 
User Interface. For example, there are no standard to say we should have a UI 
to select a book or not  There are no standard to say we should display a 
strong number in everywhere or only in some where. Those are UI features.

Also, even with a fixed set of UI features and based on standard, there are 
no STANDARD to say how you connect these two together. For exmple, by giving 
a particulare UI feature and based on w3c standard, there are many different 
way to implement it. For example, how to select a book from the Bible, you 
can have a page of 66 <A HREF> flat displyed there or you can choose to 
display it as menu. If you display it as menu, you can choose to use html <
SELECT> or use JavaScript throguht DOM to generated DIV with CSS to form the 
menu. Go to the next level, if we want people to select a particular chapter 
from a particulare book, say Gen. You can show two menu in <SELECT> without 
any connection- which make illegal book/chapter selection possible- for 
example Ruth chapter 13 - which does not exist. Or you can sync them together 
with JavsScript (try the <A HREF="http://people.netscape.com/ftang/BIBLE">http://people.netscape.com/ftang/BIBLE</A> if you know 
Chinese) or you can simply let people typed in both book name and chapter 
name in a text field and then parse it. 

The UI issue is very interesting topic. And you can always find a good and 
better way to implement it. Also, standards are a moving set of 
documentation. For example, in 1995 XML is not a standard yet (it is 
published in 1998, right? ) but today it is a standard. Something which are 
not standard may become standard. (for example, the work in the CSS3 workind 
drafts.) Sometimes those standard are adopted quite quickly, sometimes they 
never got adopted. 

Therefore, if you want to talk about standard, you really need to DEFINE the 
set of standards you are talking about.

And, beside w3c standards, there are international standard (by ISO), 
national standard (by ANSI, JIS, etc), de factor standard (what every one 
use- for example, use English Bible Book Abbreviation GEN instead of 
Hebrew/Greek abbreviation as Book selection id), platform standard (which 
font names all the Widnows/MacOS/Linux ship as standard support for the 
platform and work good with the text that we want to display) you need to 
worry about.


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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=3D2 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=
=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">In a message dated 2/21/2003 2:30:34 PM Pacific Standa=
rd Time, delbourne@cox.net writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=3DCITE style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT=
: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I have 3 requests. Standards. S=
tandards. Standards. Standards. oops that was<BR>
4. :) IMNSHO we should go with XHTML/CSS and separate the semantic<BR>
structural markup from the display style.<BR>
<A HREF=3D"http://www.webstandards.org/">http://www.webstandards.org/</A></B=
LOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
First of all, there are STANDARD for HOW we implement these ui features base=
d on in the web interface- as you mentioned- character code standard, w3c st=
andard, RFC, Internet draft, etc. <BR>
<BR>
However, there are NO standard about WHAT we are going to implement in the U=
ser Interface. For example, there are no standard to say we should have a UI=
 to select a book or not&nbsp; There are no standard to say we should displa=
y a strong number in everywhere or only in some where. Those are UI features=
.<BR>
<BR>
Also, even with a fixed set of UI features and based on standard, there are=20=
no STANDARD to say how you connect these two together. For exmple, by giving=
 a particulare UI feature and based on w3c standard, there are many differen=
t way to implement it. For example, how to select a book from the Bible, you=
 can have a page of 66 &lt;A HREF&gt; flat displyed there or you can choose=20=
to display it as menu. If you display it as menu, you can choose to use html=
 &lt;SELECT&gt; or use JavaScript throguht DOM to generated DIV with CSS to=20=
form the menu. Go to the next level, if we want people to select a particula=
r chapter from a particulare book, say Gen. You can show two menu in &lt;SEL=
ECT&gt; without any connection- which make illegal book/chapter selection po=
ssible- for example Ruth chapter 13 - which does not exist. Or you can sync=20=
them together with JavsScript (try the <A HREF=3D"http://people.netscape.com=
/ftang/BIBLE">http://people.netscape.com/ftang/BIBLE</A> if you know Chinese=
) or you can simply let people typed in both book name and chapter name in a=
 text field and then parse it. <BR>
<BR>
The UI issue is very interesting topic. And you can always find a good and b=
etter way to implement it. Also, standards are a moving set of documentation=
. For example, in 1995 XML is not a standard yet (it is published in 1998, r=
ight? ) but today it is a standard. Something which are not standard may bec=
ome standard. (for example, the work in the CSS3 workind drafts.) Sometimes=20=
those standard are adopted quite quickly, sometimes they never got adopted.=20=
<BR>
<BR>
Therefore, if you want to talk about standard, you really need to DEFINE the=
 set of standards you are talking about.<BR>
<BR>
And, beside w3c standards, there are international standard (by ISO), nation=
al standard (by ANSI, JIS, etc), de factor standard (what every one use- for=
 example, use English Bible Book Abbreviation GEN instead of Hebrew/Greek ab=
breviation as Book selection id), platform standard (which font names all th=
e Widnows/MacOS/Linux ship as standard support for the platform and work goo=
d with the text that we want to display) you need to worry about.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>
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