Re: css vs quadralay style sheets

[Jeffrey Osier <jeff -at- WRS -dot- COM>]

> Can someone compare/contrast the use of Frame 5.5 css vs converting to
> HTML with Webworks Publisher using a Webworks style sheet? TIA.

I think Quadralay introduced some confusion here by calling their
conversion macro set a "style set" (note: not style *sheet*).  You're
talking about two different animals here.

        CSS is a specification for writing style sheets for HTML
        documents.  Frame 5.5 uses them liberally to preserve (at
        least in theory) some formatting information, but they are not
        a Frame-ism.  In fact, it's very possible to use a Quadralay
        conversion style set that uses CSS.

        Quadralay style sets are collections of conversion macros that
        the WebWorks Publisher engine uses to determine the mapping
        between a given Frame construct (para tag, table, etc) and a
        corresponding HTML construct.  To see the Frame 5.5 equivalent
        conversion style set, look at the reference pages of a
        recently-converted document.

Another way to put it: HTML and CSS files are output.  Frame files are
source code.  Conversion style sets are maps between them.

To answer the question I think you meant to ask, it's been my
experience and that of many folks on Framers and TechWhirl that
Frame's HTML conversion capabilities are of limited scope.  The
Quadralay tool allows for much more customization, and as I said
before it's possible to create a conversion style set such that the
resulting HTML uses CSS and looks however you want it to look.

By the same token, you can tweak the Frame converter to do many
things.  However, I've found that the Quadralay tool is much better
for documents of any complexity.

Hope this helps,

Jefro