Re: Please Make WML Wrap Text to the Width of the Browser Window

Thanks to Joey Smith (via some off list correspondence, some of which is 
quoted below so it makes its way to the list archives), I now have a 
better understanding of what WML does, and I'll restate my suggestions 
in light of that new understanding:

   * Please add a stylesheet to the WML web site so that text wraps to 
the width of the screen.
   * If WML is a tool that can be used to create web page content, or if 
the following is relevant in any way, please help the users of WML 
become aware of the horizontal scrolling issue, and have or know where 
to find tools to deal with the issue -- maybe a sample stylesheet that 
will cause lines to wrap could be packaged with WML, or maintained on a 
web site, or something similar.

BTW: The URL for reporting bugs did not work on the two occasions that I 
tried it (about a week apart).

regards,
Randy Kramer

<aside>
Just for the record, I'm not a WML user.  Somehow I got directed to the 
web site, then had trouble reading it because of the need to 
horizontally scroll each line (using Mozilla on my 800x600 display, 
with what I believe are "standard" size fonts).  I  wanted to call it 
to somebody's attention.  When I realized the site was for a tool (WML) 
related to creating web pages, I thought it was particularly 
appropriate to raise the issue.
</aside>

On Friday 25 April 2003 06:18 pm, Joey Smith wrote:
> WML doesn't generate lines that don't wrap. It also doesn't generate
> lines that DO wrap. WML is a META-language, a language for abstracting
> HTML. HTML is a markup language, a language for demarcating text.
> 
> Neither of these languages have ANY place dictating how the display
> agent (in this case, a browser) displays the file, and WML has less
> of a place doing so than HTML.
> 
> In short, declaring that it's WML's responsibility to make sure your
> text wraps is about as fair as blaming the browser. In fact, if WML
> were to START making force-wrapped text, it would break rules of
> seperating content from layout, whereas it seems to me that the
> browser would be directly to blame for not wrapping by default.
> 
> WML should not start creating force-wrapped text. This is not the
> place of WML, and in fact would almost certainly break thousands
> upon thousands of pages that follow the current, correct behaviour.
> 
> Of course, I'm nothing more than another WML user, like yourself.
> I can't speak for Denis or Ralf about their vision for the future
> of WML, but I feel quite confident saying they'll probably tend
> to agree with me (based on observing their behaviour and coding
> practices).
> 
> 


-------------------------------------------------------

_____________________________________________________________________
Website META Language (WML)                         http://thewml.org
User Support Mailing List                        [email protected]
Automated List Manager                            [email protected]