The dictionary currently uses HTML. It works. Moreover, since HTML is a formal language the text can in principle be translated automatically into something else. Please tell me in a few simple sentences why it should be changed to some other format.
In your jwiki page http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/RicSherlock/J_Dictionary/CSS_Format you complained about the exercise numbering, viz. "2.4" is too hard. Are you serious about this complaint? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherlock, Ric" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, July 17, 2008 17:19 Subject: [Jgeneral] CSS layout for J Dictionary To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > <disclaimer> > My suggestions do not represent a desire to change or edit the > content of the Dictionary in any way, but merely a desire to > help the authors and copyright holders improve the experience of > J users. My suggestions assume that the current definitive > source of the Dictionary is HTML as published on the website - > if that is not the case, then most of the rest of this post is > probably irrelevant! > </disclaimer> > > It seems to me that it would be easier for Jsoftware, to > maintain the Dictionary and automate its publication in various > formats from a single definitive source, if the document was > stored in a way that better separated structure and content from > formatting. > In the past separating structure and content from formatting was > always a problem with HTML because web browsers had less-than- > consistent handling of standards like CSS. As a result HTML > tables were often used to provide a consistent experience across > most browsers as they are currently in the Dictionary. Most > modern browsers now support enough of these standards that it > would be feasible to reformat the Dictionary while still > maintaining a consistent web browser experience. I imagine that > one of the reasons that this hasn't happened yet, is simply that > the work to achieve this hasn't been a priority relative to > other more substantive changes to J (and of course activities > that actually generate revenue!). Hopefully some of the > following will help ease the pain of moving to a new format. If > not, I'll just put it down to experience! > > Anyway, I recently had a bit of time on my hands and had a bit > of a tinker to see if I could re-create a page layout similar to > that of the current J Dictionary using XHTML and CSS, rather > than tables. > > If you are interested in having a look please check out the wiki page: > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/RicSherlock/J_Dictionary/CSS_Format/ > > I'm no HTML/CSS guru, so I'm sure that there are other, perhaps > better, ways of doing this but I thought this might at least be > a good starting point and get things kicked off. > > Assuming that an acceptable layout/format was found, can anyone > recommend a way of automating the conversion more than just > manually reformatting each page? > > I remember a forum post a while back suggesting that the > xml/loose addon may be useful for converting old html to xml, > could it be used in this case? Or perhaps HTML Tidy? > > I'm sure there will be a need for some manual tinkering to get > things right, but hopefully at least some (preferably most!) of > the process could be automated? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
