[Bug-gnupedia] Storage and display

[Tom Chance]

In terms of storage, I agree with Paul Hook when he
says:

"You want to index one article or a million, then you
use a database.  You want to define structure within
an article, then you use XML.  Both tools are useful."

It is just plain obvious that you would use a
database. You could put all your XML formatting IN the
database if you wanted. You can have all the fields
you want, you can have all the formatting you want.
And a database will be much faster.

In terms of display, the one thing I have against XML
is compatibility... you should display it all in the
end as pure normal HTML. It has all the formatting
we'll need. For instance, I tried to look at a page
using XML earlier in Netscape 4.6 and it wouldn't work
at all!


The only issure here is in the backend, the databasing
of the articles. Do you

1) Store the index in a database, and the articles in
a respotitory of XML/text files?

2) Store the articles in a database, which would in
itself be an index (a little faster) and you can put
your XML formatting in the database anyway.

Its the choice between 1 and 2 we need here. And we
should stop deciding it on th number of XML tags we
can put in, cuz you can use them in both 1 and 2. It
should come down to:

*) Cost
*) Speed
*) Reliability

Rob Scott and I opt for 2 because it is faster and
more reliable, in our opinions.


Tom Chance

=====
"True security is to be found in social solidarity rather than in isolated 
individual effort - Fyodor Dostoyevsky"

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. 
http://auctions.yahoo.com/