JavaScript inside xmlroff?

This week's mad idea, which doesn't need to be implemented this week, is
to embed JavaScript inside xmlroff using Seed [1] so that some of the
functionality of the FOs and properties could be implemented using
scripts.

The rationale is XSL 2.0 [2], which will introduce a lot of new FOs and
properties and which will be in flux for quite a while.  Being able to
implement at least some of the functionality with scripting could make
xmlroff a useful testbed for XSL 2.0.

I'm predicting that there won't be many interoperable XSL 2.0
implementations in a few years time when XSL 2.0 needs to show them to
get out of Candidate Recommendation stage, and a slow-but-interoperable
version of xmlroff would help there, then parts implemented by scripts
could be baked into xmlroff when the spec itself is cooked.

Part of why it will take so long to get to XSL 2.0 is that there's few
people currently working on it, and the W3C XSL FO subgroup is actively
looking for more people, if you are interested.

Regards,


Tony.

[1] http://live.gnome.org/Seed
[2] http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/Group/2007/06/WD-xslfo20-req/