1 Correction

Joe — minor correction for accuracy, uppercase uses text-transform, not text-decoration.

posted at 09:40 am on July 21, 2009 by matthewbuchanan

2 Another example

Another good example of ‘unwebbable’ text is poetry, especially the modern kind that plays with page margins, text orientation (another inherent HTML weakness), font faces and font sizes, and even page size sometimes. In fact, this is text that deliberately defies conventions and structure.

posted at 10:14 am on July 21, 2009 by zeptimius

3

Great article, raises some good questions.

Personally I would use a definition list if I were to mark up a masthead. Would that not be most appropriate? Also, I believe the HTML5 <aside> element is intended to cover callouts, sidebars and footnotes (to some degree).

posted at 11:06 am on July 21, 2009 by Alexis Deveria

4 Interesting

I love to see people coming up with new ways of solving problems. I’d be curious to see how the HTML 5 Aside would work, but it’s the xml idea that got my attention. Seems like it would be the most inherently flexible method to me.

posted at 11:22 am on July 21, 2009 by DouglasT

5 valid points

So, I suppose I am in the boat with the people that think anything can be “webbable”. I think that what it comes down to is, how accustomed and comfortable people have become with a particular format/routine.

I do agree that XML would be a viable solution to consider here. Although, I had wished you discussed more of a solution with XML rather than just the term itself.

Bottom line. A message needs to be conveyed from the writers, to the actors, and whom ever else. How you get there is the question. Another question would be why go to the web with the scripts?

posted at 12:13 pm on July 21, 2009 by mattrossidesigns

6 Dialog

I didn’t notice if anyone mentioned it, but HTML5 actually has a new <dialog> element

posted at 12:24 pm on July 21, 2009 by Tim Wright

7 Screenplays

In reading this article, I was reminded of Plotbot, which makes (at least) a small attempt to break the paradigm of poor formatting by providing an XML download of one’s screenplay. The problem, of course, is that it’s not in a format that’s usable to any other application.

However, I see this as a good first step.

posted at 12:25 pm on July 21, 2009 by AfroNinja

8 Text Encoding Initiative

For digitizing manuscripts, etc., I’ve found the DTDs from the Text Encoding Initiative to be really useful. Joe, et al., the TEI might be worth checking out, if you haven’t already.

posted at 12:50 pm on July 21, 2009 by erikvorhes

9 LOL

Before you exclaim “MathML!” the way a pensioner might yell out “Bingo!,”
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud at an ALA article. Say what they will about Mr. Clark, nobody can deny he’s got a way with words.

@AfroNinja if the document is XML then if has to be usable by other applications, doesn’t it?

posted at 01:48 pm on July 21, 2009 by Michael Newton

10 LOL redux (where's the preview button?)

Before you exclaim “MathML!” the way a pensioner might yell out “Bingo!,”

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud at an ALA article. Say what they will about Mr. Clark, nobody can deny he’s got a way with words.

@AfroNinja: if the document is XML, it has to be usable by other applications, doesn’t it?

posted at 01:50 pm on July 21, 2009 by Michael Newton