Posted by Curtis on 12/19/05 02:34

Jukka K. Korpela <jkorpela@cs.tut.fi> wrote in message
news:Xns973065B0DBD3Ejkorpelacstutfi@193.229.4.246...
> "Curtis" <nospam@nohow.not> wrote:
>
> > We're in the final stages of writing a markup language.
>
> Really? Why? It's difficult to see what you are really
trying to accomplish.

About what any other markup language accomplishes. The
difference is one of style and some features.

> It sounds you have some sort of preprocessing that
generates HTML. Well,
> that's fine, as long as you produce HTML that is both
syntactically and
> semanttically correct.

That is, of course, the goal. We're getting the app to work
first, then we'll clean up the output.


> > In the PHP code we have a <p ... style=\"==para==\"
>
> Poor idea. Generate <p class="funny"> instead, and use an
external style
> sheet with p.funny { ... }.
>
> > .==para==width: 50%; padding: 10px; color: navy;

Perhaps I was unclear. We're using this ==macro== syntax to
override, in the case of particular elements, a standard
styling sheet. The adminstrators would have access to the
styling sheet, but not all users would. We're just passing
through to the end user the power of CSS, but in a limited
and item-specific way.

FYI, it works great!

> Your CSS is far from exemplary.

That doesn't surprise me. Nor is it of great importance to
me at this point. In the context of this thread, I only need
suggestions for how to make CSS work right to display images
and some mouseover text.

> Setting padding in pixels (instead of the em
> unit) and setting color without setting background, as
well as making non-
> link text some variant of blue, are typical symptoms of
having missed the
> essentials of CSS.

The point was to illustrate use of macros. Users can use CSS
however they please--we're simply passing it through to the
elements.

> > So here's the problem: today we're finishing the code
for
> > links, images, etc. Images are a big deal for this
> > application, and **one vital feature is the mouseover
ALT
> > text.**
>
> Then the design is all wrong. If mouseover events are
vital, the page is
> broken by design. To begin with, there might be no mouse,
or the user might
> be physically unable to move it around with sufficient
accuracy.

The objective was popup text, by whatever means. We use it
on our website with full knowledge that not everyone will be
able to see it.


> > We have it in the <IMG ... ALT="Witty description" of
> > course.
>
> Again broken by design. The ALT attribute shall specify
the text to be
> presented when the image is not presented. It specifies
the textual
> ALTernative.

Another poster has made the point that title= is the
preferred attribute.

> > Feedback and suggestions most definitely appreciated.
>
> Backtrack to the point where you started thinking you will
use mouseover
> texts for something vital. Then take another path.

The vital thing is that whatever we use for image setting
present popup text to most browsers. Our *application* is
far from vital--in fact it is quite whimsical. We use it for
normally-invisible humorous captions, which users can
explore or not as they wish. Perhaps I should have said it's
"relatively absolutely necessary." Heh.

I appreciate your concern, though. Thanks for the comments!

--

Curtis

Visit We the Thinking
www.wethethinking.com
An online magazine/forum
devoted to philosophical
thought.

[Back to original message]