Re: [xml-dev] XML and CSS

[Jesper Tverskov <jesper.tverskov@gmail.com>]

Simon St.Laurent wrote:

> Screen reader
> developers haven't been especially enthusiastic about interpreting the
> information that CSS provides, but it's possible.  Perhaps more practical
> would be CSS properties that map to a limited number of screen-reader types,
> though that's a conversation that goes around and around...

Yes, at least in theory, a screen reader ought to be able to interpret
what CSS actually does: When the meaning of markup the CSS is applied
to is known. But if the meaning of the markup is unknown to the screen
reader, as would most often be the case with some homegrown XML, I
think it would be quite a challenge.

> None of these are impossible barriers.  XML just never achieved the momentum
> in this space to make them worth climbing.

I don't thing that is the full explanation. When looking back, I find
it incredible to believe, that many of us once thought that "XML
Browsing", meaning CSS styled homegrown XML, was a promising road to
follow for webpages.

I believe that I'm pretty good at CSS, but I have not the slightest
idea of how I could style some XML to create a table with rows and
columns, collspan, borders and shades, table headers, tbody, etc. Nor
do I have the desire to solve such problems. Next time around with
some other XML, I should reinvent the wheel one more time? Should all
web developers really work like that, when it is easy to transform XML
not made for display into XHTML made to make display easy?

Cheers,

Jesper Tverskov

http://www.xmlkurser.dk
http://www.xmlplease.com