X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,be7ecceadeff64b8 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-Thread: fbb9d,be7ecceadeff64b8 X-Google-Attributes: gidfbb9d,public X-Google-Thread: 110f55,be7ecceadeff64b8 X-Google-Attributes: gid110f55,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-08-31 15:40:51 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!dearn!blekul11!idefix.CS.kuleuven.ac.be!ub4b!EU.net!uunet!news.sprintlink.net!sashimi.wwa.com!gagme.wwa.com!not-for-mail From: jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca (Joshua Bell) Newsgroups: rec.arts.ascii,alt.ascii-art,alt.binaries.pictures.ascii Subject: Talk: Should I html'ize the FAQ? Date: 30 Aug 1994 22:09:20 -0500 Organization: University Computing Services (The University of Calgary) Lines: 106 Sender: boba@gagme.wwa.com Approved: boba@wwa.com Message-ID: <340s90$hj8@gagme.wwa.com> References: <33tklt$i5k@gagme.wwa.com> <33v716$jpn@gagme.wwa.com> <340ai5$9ko@gagme.wwa.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gagme.wwa.com Xref: nntp.gmd.de rec.arts.ascii:1580 alt.ascii-art:13911 In article <340ai5$9ko@gagme.wwa.com>, Bob Allison wrote: > > > The only problem is that I would probably HTML'ize the FAQ portion (or >maybe all of the) ASCII Art Resources file. This file has a lot of ASCII >art included, some of which is wrapped with text. > This type of file needs to be HTML'ized after it is changed. It would >be very hard to change it once it has embedded HTML tags. Why? The HTML file itself can look like shit and be a total mess, since HTML is a *markup language*. As long as the ASCII stuff looks okay and is wrapped in

the results of the "lynx -dump" will look fine. Try it. The nice thing about HTML (and *any* markup language, like LaTeX) is that the source file doesn't have to be pretty. For example: ...................................................................... Example HTML Document

This is a sample of an ASCII Art FAQ !!!!!

Line: Using mostly _-~|/\()><.,'`"O to draw things.
Greyscale: Using things like .,"-oad*8M$&@# to represent pixels

By Joshua Bell, as an example of poor internal layout for an HTML file. This line, for example, is much wider than 80 columns, but it doesn't really matter.

Joshua Bell <jsbell@acs.ucalgary.ca>

...................................................................... That, passed through lynx -dump, yields: ...................................................................... THIS IS A SAMPLE OF AN ASCII ART FAQ !!!!! Line Using mostly _-~|/\()><.,'`"O to draw things. Greyscale Using things like .,"-oad*8M$&@# to represent pixels _________________________________________________________________ By Joshua Bell, as an example of poor internal layout for an HTML file. This line, for example, is much wider than 80 columns, but it doesn't really matter. Joshua Bell ...................................................................... Now usually the HTML file isn't that bad, and if you use something like Emacs html-helper-mode (see http://www.reed.edu/~nelson/tools/) it'll help format the HTML nicely for you. But you don't *have* to keep it looking pretty inside the HTML file, except for your own convenience. No-one sees it unless they specifically ask for it, and they should be expecting a mess. If you want to add a new paragraph somewhere, just rememeber to add in the

tags in the appropriate places (or

...

if you want to be HTML+ compliant). Maintaining HTML documents is MUCH simpler than maintaining plain text documents; no worries about formatting! No need to juggle word wrapping! The drudgery of adding in new hyperlinks is about the only downer. Joshua