...Before we're getting too philosophical, let me say that we're now talking two different issues:
1. Is it possible to develop a conforming XSL:FO implementation that produces RTF or MIF or similar ouput?
Probably not, XSL-FO is clearly meant for page output and RTF and MIF (unless abused in strange ways) are document formats, not page formats.
2. Are there really two different groups of output formats and does it really make sense to support both in one tool (FOP)....
There are definitely two groups, and I agree with you that
.... All of the stuff needed for FO->RTF or FO->MIF conversion is pretty straightforward stuff....
The whole point of the StructureHandler interface is to be able to reuse FOP's "frontend" for structure-based renderers.
The impact of StructureHandler on the "standard" FOP output formats (PDF mostly) is minor, but it allows the FOP "pipeline" to branch cleanly, after the parsing and attributes resolution, to generate either structure-based or page-based formats.
Besides sharing code, the advantage in RTF and similar output formats being developed as part of FOP is the community: one project with more audience instead of several, each with a smaller audience.
-Bertrand
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