On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Andre' Poenitz wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 1 Dec 1999, Jules Bean wrote:
> > > I would quite like, personally, a LyX-like program which is a more generic
> > > 'structured' document editor. Probably an XML editor, with the ability to
> > > backend onto LaTeX, but also other formats. If I have time, I may have a
> > > look at that problem.
> >
> > Don't run off and reinvent the wheel.
>
> I am actually fully sympathetic with Jules.
>
> The problem is not 'reinventing the wheel'. That is not necessary.
> I have the feeling that most people here share more or less the same
> vision of what constitutes a Good Document Processor.
Yup. My comments weren't intended to suggest that LyX should be
abandoned. They may have been slanted by the fact that I'm not a LyX
developer, and I was trying not to sound like it was my decision what
happened with the LyX project ;-)
> I have to admit that I not yet convinced which one I consider the better,
> although I am fairly sure that I'd take the second approach if it were
> my work and I had enough resources to spend. I'd be really interested in
> some 'test project': Read in an XML file, display it nicely *including math*,
> export it to tex. Just to convince me that the second approach is not
> *much* better than the first ;-)
I was thinking of something along these lines. Actually, I was thinking
more of saving a file in XML format, an XML format equivalent to .lyx, and
then loading that back in.
Note that 'read in an XML file' doesn't mean anything. XML is a file
format format, not just a file format ;-). What we need, at the end of the
day, is the ability to read in any XML file in any format, and print it to
TeX according to an XSL stylesheet. It's not clear if XSL is currently
quite ready for prime-time use, though.
But even defining a LyX XML format (.lyxml?) would be a significant win.
XML formats are easy to parse, and furthermore once lyx is natively using
XML it becomes easy to write plugins to do clever things (tm) because XML
is designed for manipulation (and, for example, perl and python modules
exist to manipulate the groves).
Jules
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| Jules aka | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Richmond, Surrey |
| Julian Bean | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | TW9 2TF *UK* |
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