Received: from mx0.gmx.net (mx0.gmx.net [213.165.64.100]) by h1439878.stratoserver.net (8.14.2/8.14.2/Debian-2build1) with SMTP id o876nJSZ013371 for ; Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:49:20 +0200 Received: (qmail 22375 invoked by alias); 7 Sep 2010 06:49:14 -0000 Delivered-To: GMX delivery to rainer.schoepf@gmx.net Received: (qmail invoked by alias); 07 Sep 2010 06:49:13 -0000 Received: from relay2.uni-heidelberg.de (EHLO relay2.uni-heidelberg.de) [129.206.210.211] by mx0.gmx.net (mx047) with SMTP; 07 Sep 2010 08:49:13 +0200 Received: from listserv.uni-heidelberg.de (listserv.uni-heidelberg.de [129.206.100.94]) by relay2.uni-heidelberg.de (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id o876nXmq020651 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:49:34 +0200 Received: from listserv.uni-heidelberg.de (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by listserv.uni-heidelberg.de (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id o875lhbQ005595; Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:47:41 +0200 Received: by LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 16.0) with spool id 493536 for LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE; Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:47:41 +0200 Received: from relay2.uni-heidelberg.de (relay2.uni-heidelberg.de [129.206.210.211]) by listserv.uni-heidelberg.de (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id o876lfS8015221 for ; Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:47:41 +0200 Received: from mta2.cl.cam.ac.uk (mta2.cl.cam.ac.uk [128.232.0.14]) by relay2.uni-heidelberg.de (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id o876nHlh020514 for ; Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:49:20 +0200 Received: from sxp10.cl.cam.ac.uk ([128.232.10.70] helo=cl.cam.ac.uk) by mta2.cl.cam.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 3.092 #1) id 1Osrxo-0001lQ-00 for LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE; Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:47:28 +0100 X-Mailer: MH-E 8.0.3; nmh 1.3; GNU Emacs 22.3.1 Message-ID: <23261.1283842048@cl.cam.ac.uk> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 07:47:28 +0100 Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project From: Robin Fairbairns Subject: Re: About standard classes To: LATEX-L@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de In-Reply-To: Your message of Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:15:19 +0200. <001b01cb4e4b$aaad9f10$0008dd30$@art-satz.de> Precedence: list List-Help: , List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Owner: List-Archive: X-GMX-Antispam: 0 (Mail was not recognized as spam); Detail=5D7Q89H36p77e5KAPs1l6v/Sb97LojnDtMgfETrECMLUO9erHzOJe7j3G660N4yBY6XHH YPYtmQj6mbYUTZ3LnaFANLWrKE7/wIDhnv+VrW0hxOapLRUwuY9oBqo5h+Dh9B42XlFTMTKlXDju GaV8Q==V1; X-Resent-By: Forwarder X-Resent-For: rainer.schoepf@gmx.net X-Resent-To: rainer@rainer-schoepf.de Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 6365 Ulrich Dirr wrote: > Will Robertson wrote: > > The LaTeX3 project has not really started discuss such high-level aspects > > of document design, but we've made a start with the "template" mechanism > > for creating modular document interface elements. If you're interested, > > take a look at the xtemplate package on CTAN or the LaTeX3 SVN code. > > It's o.k. to have some ready-made design like in LaTeX. the core of latex 3 is designed to *avoid* ready-made design. in place of it, the system will support an "outer layer" (such as xtemplate, already mentioned) which will support things "like" document classes. > Every time when I'm designing a book I have to fight with low level LaTeX > because numerous lengths are hidden inside standard class files and even > latex.ltx. It is killing from a designer's view, e.g., to change all > measurement to didot points instead of American points. Insofar high-level > aspects are important for program designers (or how should I call you?) too. > A programmer designing a typesetting system should be aware of typesetters > needs. the fond hope is that the "design layer" will support such enterprise. you likely have more experience than any of us, but most of us have experience meeting the requirements of designers (think the latex companions). as will said, the template mechanism is designed for exactly that sort of support. however, your original question asked for "document classes with body size xy.pq points, for random p,q,x,y". you must surely recognise that this is impractical _without_ much more specification than can be generated automatically from body size. robin