Re: Free PageMaker-style program?

[Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu>]

Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca> writes:
> On Thu, 20 Nov 1997, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> 
> > On 20 Nov 1997, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> > 
> > > Does anyone know of a DFSG-free program that works something like
> > > Adobe PageMaker?
> > > 
> > > I'm kind of hoping there aren't any, because I want to write one.  :-)
> 
> Please, if you do, consider basing your tool on SGML. It would be most
> usefull to see a layout/editor that can work with generic content!

That's an idea.  I'm planning to write it this way:

    1. Design a script-like language that can be used to fully specify how
    an output page should look.  This will be the equivalent of TeX for
    desktop publishing.  This step I am partway through with--but I'm
    still seeking ideas.

    2. Write a program that translates this output language into
    PostScript.  This will be, I think, the easiest part of the whole
    project--PostScript is well designed for DTP.

    3. Write an X11 program that can be used to preview the output,
    analogous to xdvi for TeX.

    4. Add editing features to the X11 previewer.

After step #4 we have an elegant, powerful equivalent to PageMaker.
IMHO this is *the* way to design such a program.

Can someone point me to the SGML language specification?  I know next
to nothing about SGML.
-- 
Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu> <blp@gnu.org> <pfaffben@debian.org>


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