Asking for fact check

[Mr Initial Man]

I've recently written an article called "Coach Random's Tips For Using XSLT Without Hating Its Guts (http://mrinitialman.furtopia.org/Library/Essays/Websites/XSL.html). Could someone read it over and make sure its accurate? I'd like to publish it.

[opifex]

Read it over just now and have it bookmarked to review again. I HATE XSLT!
I always get something out of kilter... looks like a good straight-forward overview that could be helpful. I'll pass it on to a friend who IS good with XSLT so he can check it better.

[Mr Initial Man]

Thanks. Who knows, maybe I'll rewrite this article into a book that gives a straight-forward overview of XSLT.

[Charles]

I do like XSLT and am at least somewhat handy at it. And I'm sorry to have to say this but I didn't get far into your tips before giving up. Most everything that I read was incorrect.

[Stephen Philbin]

Well then why not add some constructive to that criticism?

[Mr Initial Man]

I do like XSLT and am at least somewhat handy at it. And I'm sorry to have to say this but I didn't get far into your tips before giving up. Most everything that I read was incorrect.

You know why I called it "Coach Random's Tips For Using XSLT Without Hating Its Guts"? Because this is stuff I ended up figuring out when I was creating the website for the Coach Random webcomic. Everything in this article are tricks, workarounds, and insights that I actually applied.

So give me the first inaccuracy, and I'll give you my reasoning. Then we can go from there.


EDIT: Please don't start with "Solder joints of [the internet's] tubes". That was a JOKE.

[opifex]

Well... my compadre says that the tips are solid and he does a lot with XSLT.

[Charles]

The purpose of XSLT is to translate a custom XML-based language into something a browser can understand.Wrong. It's there to describe how to transform XML to any other text based format.The first thing you should know is that XSLT is complicated.Actually, it's quite simple and there really aren't that many parts to it. It does require a new way of thinking. That may be hard for some of limited cognitive abilities but it's not complicated.XSLT is neither a markup language like HTML nor a styling language like CSSIt is by definition a mark up language and exactly in the way HTML should be used. And the XSLT is actually a sub-part of something else, XSL-FO. The two have one specification. And XSL-FO, the FO meaning "formatting objects" are all about formatting. XSL-FO is quite complicated.

[Mr Initial Man]

The purpose of XSLT is to translate a custom XML-based language into something a browser can understand.
Wrong. It's there to describe how to transform XML to any other text based format.

Right up until now, I didn't know it could be used for something other than a browser.


The first thing you should know is that XSLT is complicated.
Actually, it's quite simple and there really aren't that many parts to it. It does require a new way of thinking. That may be hard for some of limited cognitive abilities but it's not complicated.

Not complicated? Really? I should show you my style sheets and ask you how to simplify them -- and hope you don't simply leave me dangling like you did when I was asking for guidance with .htaccess (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204193) (I only got as far as Step 2). In any case, they're a lot more complex than HTML (or at least look it). Besides, last time someone told me something was "quite simple," I handed in a VB.Net project that I never COULD get to work.



XSLT is neither a markup language like HTML nor a styling language like CSS
It is by definition a mark up language and exactly in the way HTML should be used. And the XSLT is actually a sub-part of something else, XSL-FO. The two have one specification. And XSL-FO, the FO meaning "formatting objects" are all about formatting. XSL-FO is quite complicated.
Okay, I'll admit that everything XML-Based is by definition a Markup Language. My point was that XSLT, like SVG, doesn't act the way we'd expect a markup language to. Seriously, it only started making sense when I treated it like a programming language.

[Mr Initial Man]

And, of course, Charles leaves me dangling...