Silmaril Consultants
The Information Consultancy
| <! | ATTLIST |
Styling
| Stylesheets for XML |
You can use CSS or XSL/XSLT, or both:
- CSS
- Cascading StyleSheets were originally defined for HTML but work with any application of XML. For each type or combination of element you can specify typeface, size, and style; spacing, position, and alignment; prefixes and suffixes, and other bells and whistles: enough for most simple formatting.
- XSLT
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Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations are the way of turning XML (which not all Web browsers understand yet) into HTML (which they all do). The HTML that you generate by this method can of course also refer to a CSS stylesheet, giving you the best of both worlds.
XSLT can also transform XML into any kind of marked or unmarked plain text (including RTF or LaTeX, for example), or into some other XML format. XSLT's big advantage is that it can be used to manipulate the order and content of your file while it styles it.
- XSL
- The Extensible Stylesheet Language itself is for converting XML into PDF (Acrobat format). The same principles apply as for XSLT, but you need a good understanding of typographic layout to make it look right, and not all processors implement all features yet.
 | Stylesheets for SGML |
The first system available was for the DynaText browser, based on the original structured stylesheets by Steve DeRose at EBT and still available (from Enigma). The Synex system was similar in concept, and as used to power the Panorama and MultiDoc Pro browsers and plugins. Both systems expressed the styles as an SGML document, which made them very easy to use, and both systems had excellent graphical development interfaces.
DSSSL (Document Style Syntax and Specification Language, ISO 10179) was developed by James Clark. This uses a syntax similar to the Scheme programming language, and is implemented principally in the Jade processor, outputting plain text, HTML, RTF, or TeX source. XSL can be regarded as DSSSL for XML, as it implements the same set of features.
Stylesheets for LaTeX
LaTeX packages are designed to provide a seamless way of adding functionality and style to the basic document classes. Almost all of them are themselves programmable, so you can use them either as they stand or you can make fine-tuning adjustments for specific requirements.
Several dozen commonly-used packages come with the standard installation of LaTeX, and there is a searchable index and thematic description of all public packages on the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN).
Cork, Ireland
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