Re: [Boost-docs] [quickbook] Breaking a line

Subject: Re: [Boost-docs] [quickbook] Breaking a line
From: Edward Diener (eldiener_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-01-25 14:57:02

On 1/25/2011 9:12 AM, Dean Michael Berris wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 9:27 PM, Edward Diener<eldiener_at_[hidden]>  wrote:
>> On 1/25/2011 4:02 AM, John Maddock wrote:
>>>
>>> The issue is that there is no such mechanism in docbook - a [br] is
>>> really a presentation issue, not a structural one, and docbook deals
>>> with structure not presentation.
>>
>> I do not know what the difference between structure and presentation means.
>> One creates a language so that documents can be written using xml markup. if
>> I can not structure my document so that a given piece of information appears
>> at a given place, what is the purpose of such a language ?
>>

snipped...

>
> For all intents and purposes as well as practically-speaking (and
> without drudging up the "no tables" and "structure/presentation" split
> debates that have already concerned the web standards guys for the
> past couple of decades already) I think this should be considered. It
> seems to be easier to mold the tools around users than it is to try to
> change user behavior. ;)

If a user can not present a document in a layout he prefers, then there 
is something wrong with the tools that produce that document, whether it 
is docbook, css, fop, or whatever that produces that final document in 
whatever forms ( html, pdf etc. ) are available. Changing human behavior 
to not care about the layout of a document is just stupid to me. It is 
tantamount to an author of a book saying to the publisher "Here is the 
text of my book. Put it together any way you like just so the reader can 
read the words consecutively with the punctuation provided."