More generally on the mailing list there are many questions about
>> css
>> and usage with xslt.  I was planning on using xslt/xhtml for my next web
> There were no questions about xslt in the last 1849 messages. I complain
My bad.  I have been reading many mail-archives lately, and even in
archives where xslt is mentioned css questions outnumber it by far.

Friends:
     My comments below are long winded, and there is no question here, but
as web-design was quite a wilderness for me to go through, it may
help others scavenging for context I had trouble figuring out:

     I have decided to go with Quixote.  Thank you Jim and Thomas for your
answers, they summarize what seems to be the lay of the land about
css and xslt among professional web-app designers.
     I am going to stay away from issues of what browsers are compatable
with what as there is plenty of info. about that from a simple
google.   However, I have not done anything with web-pages since
using the LAMP combination years ago for a very simple web-page.  A
few years ago it was easy to make this decision as LAMP was all
anyone recomended.  Now I am running an education program and
building our web-page functionality as the last part of using open
software for everything.
On Python:  I was not planning on coding my own solutions.  It took me
quite a while to find a set of open software apps. that worked.  In the
meantime I used a little Python code for to solve one problem and I ended
up writing an entire app. with pyqt on the front end to run the entire
program from.  This mushrooming of using python is also quite common.
Having python code at the center of my operations, I start looking to add
my web-app functionality to what I have functional already.  Here is where
I wish to make three points:
1) There is so much talk about IE not properly rendering css, that it
clouds the fact that css is now the best keep secret that everybody knows.
 The w3c web-site claims that css is not the thing of the future and that
xslt is the thing to use.  They explain their reasoning based on xslt's
capabilities/features.  They claim that css works well for styles for one
page, but lacks the features that xslt can offer to format an entire
document.  Many even in the technical realms tangential to web-application
design believe that css is cool, but never really happened because of the
browser issue.  This is what led me to lean towards xslt as I like xml.
       However, quantums of professional web-app designers don't like
working with xslt.  I don't want to over-extend myself quoting
other mail-archives/comments, but the jest of their dislike evolves
around the yield of features gained vs. the syntaxical
complexity/(design?)
       Css works for many pros. it seems not just because it separates the
style from the content, but because many in the design world are
getting handy at css and it is actually succesful in practise at
this separation.
2) On software apps:
    For attacks on apache, I would say to read the actual points being
made.  Many who have used apache in the limited ways that I have do
not know how flexible it is.  There are many negative comments that
may be true.  However, it was difficult to even come up with a
criteria to chose between apache or changing to something like
twisted.  I am going with apache for the time being because it works
with quixote and I already have an app. using it(sql-ledger.)
However, twisted looks really dynamic and seems like a perfect fit
down the road with my pythonic central app.
   The quixote decision included zope and nevow.  Zope put me in an all or
nothing position.  It has a great deal of functionality, and many swear
by it, but the bar raises for me if I enter an app. that has an entire
universe to function in.  The issue is not the number of features as
much as getting in the middle of the Zope way and not being able to
comfortably use outside functionality to deal with either something
Zope uses I don't like, or can't figure out.
     Between nevow and quixote, it was almost a toss up.  I think I could
use the series of Nevow tools to put together a pretty snazzy set of
pages and use my dynamic content.  However, my final choice of
quixote is based on my last point:
3)  With open software, I had little luck getting results until I focused
on the area I was trying to deal with instead of the software.  ie:
recording/mixing/editing sound was a disaster using certain apps. until I
learned the fundamental principles of digital sound.  With graphics and
printing I had to learn far more about rgb/cmyk/svg etc. to use
gimp/inkscape.. properly. In thes two areas apple could have solved my
initial problems without any of this knowledge, but I would not now have
the control from going through the process of understanding what
fundamental principals these apps. were working on.
     I only mentioned apps. above that I like, but there are many
web-design apps. that look like they could well leave me in that
middle zone where my problem didn't quite get solved and my current
tool is not flexible enough to adjust my functionality.
     That is why I am using quixote without ptl as a vehicle to use text
edited css and xhtml.  Quixote appears to be the best app. I have
found to do this.

thanks,
Will



> it too. It is too complicated. A real programming language (Python) is
> much
> easier.
>
> Most people dream that they can solve with xml and xslt a big problem:
> One source for print an online information. But then you can't use HTML
> tags,
> then you need to use docbook. And again that's too complicated.
>
> I have a simple script which translates some HTML tags to latex. That's
> enough
> for me needs.
>
> I use HTML since I am too lazy to close the following tags: 
, 
,
> 
.
>
>  Thomas
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