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Date:         Wed, 2 May 90 19:09:47 CET
Reply-To: LaTeX-L Mailing list <LATEX-L%DHDURZ1@unido.bitnet>
From: "Nelson H. F. Beebe" <Beebe@SCIENCE.UTAH.EDU>
Subject:      SGML for document design, and the LaTeX redesign
To: Rainer Schoepf <BK4@DHDURZ1.uucp>
Status: R
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X-UID: 90

I'm familiar enough with SGML that it would not be a problem
to follow discussions on it.  However, I think it is
probably a bad idea to get involved with at present because

        (a) This would dilute the LaTeX effort and progress,
        (b) Eventually, we would get into situations where
        an SGML parser would be needed to validate prototype
        document designs.  Few (if any) of us have such
        parsers available.

For all its good intents, SGML at most installations
remains mostly a paper specification of how document
structure can be described, and it is not yet feasible to
exchange documents in SGML format and have any hope that
they can be processed at a remote site.  By contrast, TeX
and LaTeX documents can readily be exchanged, and (tens of
?) thousands of sites can process them without difficulty.

I would therefore suggest that list participants familiar
with SGML use it to help structure their thoughts on
document design, in the same way that those of us who
program use our knowledge of various programming languages
to assist in program design, but that SGML {\em not} be used
directly on this list.
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