Re: [Groff] Back to the future

[Clarke Echols]

On 03/06/2014 07:29 AM, Keith Marshall wrote:
> I've kept out of this debate, until now, primarily because I've yet to
> formulate a defined opinion as to where I stand.  However, I would like
> to contribute a couple of pennyworth, at this juncture.

> SGML technologies certainly have their place, but while they continue to
> generate disgustingly laid out, barely legible, and just downright
> broken output, such as this example:
>
>    http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
>
> from Eric's own stable, I suspect that the continued future of page
> oriented formats remains assured.

What a splendid example of what happens when history is ignored (as is
the case in so many US federal laws) in exchange for political
expediency (and undeserved voter support).

SGML is a standard mark-up language.  It assumes the SGML will be
used as a basis for physical layout by means of an external DTD, as
in "document type definition.

HTML, a derivative of SGML, benefits greatly from the use of CSS
(cascading style sheets), and I can do a lot with CSS that I can do
with groff, though it's not as easy.  I'm very much a fan of
conventional groff with its enhancements.

I also dislike reading ebooks on a screen.  I nearly always print
them out so I can be comfortable and mark the text with pens or
highlighters.  If I can't get a book in paper and can't print from
an ebook "reader", most of the time I won't buy the book.

And cloud storage makes me nervous because your documents are
always subject to being erased -- especially if you pay a
subscription fee for the service -- and are gone from history.

Clarke