Re: Re: Shadow Alterntive - Redux.

I got kind of lost in all the technical discussion which went over my head frankly. Are you saying that I can read Shadow outlines in Firefox? That would be interesting, but I do need also to work with them. I have master outlines that I built to use over and over with books I hope to write, so what I do is make a copy of those masters and then edit those copies to put in the information for the particular book project I am involved in. Can I do that in the browser? 

And I actively make new outlines in Shadow quite often. As someone else has commented, Word makes a very poor outliner. I haven't tried OpenOffice yet as an outliner, but I do not have a lot of hope that it is significantly better. So I guess I was not clear in my earlier note. I need active outlines, not just passive documents that I only read. And those outline, btw, have extensive notes connected to individual items that contain much of the value of the documents. So I do not want to lose them.

Another specific thing I use often in Shadow is the ability to hide items. So I can see an overall, high level view of my outline, then drill down into the section I want to work on or read, and then look at individual notes. That capability is very important to me. So I am looking for a replacement that would provide those capabilities  and add the kind of outline-specific capabilities that Shadow has on the Palm but not on Windows.

Thanks and all the best,

 Bert Latamore
IT Journalist, Report Writer and Book Doctor
From tweets and blogs to white papers and books: 
You provide the information; I craft the words.




________________________________
From: shovavnik <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 3:03:48 AM
Subject: Re: [shadow-discuss] Re: Shadow Alterntive - Redux.

  
Most (maybe all) modern browsers are able to utilize XSL/T innately to
transform XML documents.

Presenting Shadow outlines in a browser is a piece of cake. You can do it
now, by simply opening your outlines in a browser of your choice. Chances
are your browser will a "default" XSLT stylesheet to "pretty print" your
outline's XML.

The problem with this approach is not the XSLT. The problem is that XSLT is
a declarative transformation language only. It does not support interaction
with the user. You would not be able to add items, or edit them, by simply
using XML and XSLT. XSLT is not built for the task.

You'd need a separate language that is able to interface between the user
and the browser and outline. JavaScript can do this, but using JavaScript
would entail far more effort than simply writing a few XSLT stylesheets.

And if all you want is to display the outline in a browser, you'd probably
be better off exporting your outlines from Shadow Desktop to HTML.

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 6:38 AM, houstontyoung <houstontyoung@ yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
> Sorry if this posts twice...
>
> --- In shadow-discuss@ yahoogroups. com <shadow-discuss% 40yahoogroups. com>,
> Bert Latamore <bertlatamore@ ...> wrote:
> >
> > What I want is a replacement on Windows that can read Shadow files (or a
> way to convert those files without messing them up). I am looking for an
> outliner, not a task manager (I do that in Pimlical). I no longer use a
> Palm, so syncing isn't an issue. Any ideas?
>
> I don't know much about XML/XSLT, but would it be possible to use an
> internet browser (Firefox, IE) as a Shadow Desktop alternative?
>
> From the little I've read, it looks like either Firefox or IE could parse
> the XML with an XSL stylesheet (please correct me if I'm wrong!). It also
> seems like XSLT is robust enough to do the sorts of "display changes" (i.e.,
> filtering, drilling down, expanding/collapsin g, etc.) that one would want in
> a desktop Shadow Plan. (Again, corrections? )
>
> Of course, there are several gaping holes to be filled:
>
> 1. Can Firefox/IE/Chrome/ etc. actually *run* XSLT transformations, or do
> you need a separate program? I know there are Java-based processors (
> http://www.sagehill.net/docbookxsl/InstallingAProcessor.html) available,
> but could one be called from an XML file, similarly to the way one embeds
> Javascript? (I also know almost nothing of web development. )
>
> 2. Someone would actually need to *write* said XSL and XSLT files....
>
> Of course, if this approach is feasible it would be very nice, since it
> would likely be mostly platform- and browser-independent , and anyone who
> wanted to customize the "look" in their browser could write an appropriate
> CSS or XSL file to do so.
>
> Anyway, if this isn't feasible, someone more knowledgeable than me should
> debunk it quickly.
>
> Justin
>
> 
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]