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Re: Cost per title... (Dan Lester) Marcia Tuttle 13 Nov 2000 14:12 UTC

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Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 16:07:05 -0700
From: Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com>
Subject: Re: Cost per title... (Albert Henderson_

Monday, November 06, 2000, 4:31:40 PM, you wrote:

>> Any sort of page numbers you wanted.  You could put in a "page number"
>> every fifty (or any other number) lines, for example.  This isn't
>> greatly different from the way lines are numbered in some legal materials.
>>
>> Yes, "fifty lines" may be 40 or 100, depending on browser width, font
>> size set in the browser, and so forth.  However, the page notation
>> would still delineate sections, whatever you wished to call them.
>>
>>>         In other words, the author of a citation must
>>>         go into some other author's file -- the source
>>>         file -- and insert line numbers + line feeds??

NO.  The "You" referred to would be the author, editor, webmaster, or
whoever was doing the preparation for web publication.

>>>         It might work but it sounds hackerish. Maybe the
>>>         quoted authors will be so pleased to cited that
>>>         they won't object ...

Even if the citing individual numbered lines or similar as you
suggest, it would have no effect on the author.  And, your naive
suggestion that authors who publish electronically would be happy to
have any references to their work doesn't really deserve response.
You seem to be so anti-electronic-publication that I'm amazed that you
continue to publish electronically via this list.

>> ----
>> On-screen presentation uses no page numbers. A precise reference that is
>> easy with a traditional source is not possible with HTML.
>> ----
>>
>> No, it IS possible.  It isn't frequently done now, but it certainly
>> could be.  For that matter, W3C could come up with some standard to
>> codify such divisions or notations.

>>>         dream on.

I will.  Not that the W3C will come up with specific codification, but
that the web and all things that relate to it will continue to
develop.  That includes citation rules, technical improvements, and a
lot of other things neither you nor I have yet dreamed of.

>> ----
>> HTML output also garbles and loses lines.
>> ----
>>
>> Nonsense.  HTML doesn't garble or lose anything.  A bad connection, a
>> sickly or overloaded computer, a funky browser, or other things can do
>> that. Of course those things can also mess up any other computer
>> protocols that are used.

>>>         You can blame the electric company, but I have seen
>>>         it too often running on UPSed equipment to believe
>>>         that it isn't a "quality" consideration.

Well, when you provide proof that "HTML loses things" in situations
where other methods of encoding data don't, I'll eat one of my hats.
Remember, HTML is nothing but plain ASCII text, just like this message
and the one to which it is responding.  In HTML the ">" just has a
different meaning.

dan, just about to give up one one who always has a "yeah, but...."

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan@RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.postcard.org  www.gailndan.com