Re: [MUD-Dev] META: FAQ and Thread Summaries

[Vadim Tkachenko <vadimt#4cs,com>]

Chris Gray wrote:
> 
> [Greg:]
> 
> :my one suggestion, make it a nicely formatted HTML doc.
> 
> Blech!
> 
> (Sorry, couldn't resist!)
> 
> Seriously though, that format might be convenient for some, but it makes
> the documents completely unreadable by anything other than an HTML thingy.
> The reverse is not true. If we introduce HTML, we then open up the can of
> worms of compatibility. Who has tools that enforce HTML-2 conformance?
> By default, most browsers don't conform, and many systems have extensions
> that are completely non-portable. For now, we could easily say that we
> have no reason to use any of those tags, but the best intentions often
> go very astray!

Yes, HTML is a pain in the neck to maintain, but think of it in terms of
visualization - it's really easy and nice to _use_ the result. As for
maintaining it, my solution was so far to use the plaintext or some
database format, and a simple HTML generator which gives you the
excellent result without a pain of modifying it.

And, you get a benefit of being able to visualize the result in any
other way you consider appropriate. Just replace HTML in a paragraph
above with your favorite format.

BTW, that seems to be the common approach novadays - a lot of MUDs, as
it seems, maintain their helps in a form which can be used by both MUD
engine itself as well as by the Web users - CGI of a sort.

> Chris Gray   cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA

-- 
Still alive and smile stays on,
Vadim Tkachenko <VadimT#4CS,Com>
--
UNIX _is_ user friendly, he's just very picky about who his friends are
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