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        Let me share the following information on style sheets and navigators
in response to the numerous recent queries on the subject.  Assuming
that most of you wish to use a helper application like Panorama
(www.inso.com) or Multidoc Pro (www.citec.fi) with your web browser
(Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer), I will focus on
those products.  Other delivery methods- DynaText, Open Link, DynaWeb-
have their own styles methods.  What I say hereafter about Panorama is
based on personal experience; comments on Multidoc Pro are second hand
and therefore trust that there will be additions or corrections from
those more familiar with this product.

        Panorama and Multidoc Pro seem to use the same underlying search engine
or at least use the same type of style sheets and navigators.  These
particular stylesheets and navigators (S&Ns) are themselves SGML-encoded
documents, constructed according to two dtds created by Synex
Information AB of  Sweden.  Their dtds maybe found in Panorama Pro in
the catalog subdirectory as the files sheet.ent and nav.ent.  Panorama,
at least, provides no direct technical documentation, such as a tag
library, for these dtds.

        As these stylesheets and navigators are simply ASCII SGML files, one
could use a basic text editor such as the Windows Notepad to create or
edit the S&N files.  More usefully, both Panorama Pro and Multidoc Pro
provide an interactive editor for creating on modifying  S&Ns.  You will
need to purchase Panorama Pro to create and edit them; the free,
unsupported version (Panorama Free) does not include this functionality.
 (Note: this is not the same as the free demo version of Panorama Pro.
There has been considerable confusion on this list over the fact that
there are two "free" versions of Panorama- one an unsupported, view-only
version and one a limited-time, but apparently fully functioning, demo
version.)

        The Panorama manual provides adequate detail for using the editor to
produce stylesheets.  The directions for the navigator editor lack
sufficient detail to be very helpful.   I have found the most useful
approach to learning how to use these tools is one of reverse
engineering.  Capture an existing stylesheet and then experiment, using
the editor to see what happens as you make various changes.  The styles
language and editor are actually fairly powerful.  I don't know if the
editor in Multidoc Pro is better documented.

        Where do I get sample stylesheets?  Easy.  Every time you download an
sgml file form someplace such as the LC, Harvard, or Yale sites, you are
downloading the stylesheet and navigator as well as the sgml instance,
the EAD dtd and all the assorted entity files.  The files can be used
interactively at that time and are saved on your hard drive so that you
can come back and look at them later.  Your browser will save them the
SGML file in a temporary directory, usually in c:\windows\temp.  Check
the settings on your browser's configuration setup for the location.
Panorama will save the other files, typically in its \tmp directory.
Check the Panorama.ini file to confirm the location.  Files will have
arbitrary names like 30.ssh, 15.dtd, and 25.ent.  Panorama Pro also
includes several sample stylesheets and navigators in its entityrc
subdirectory.

        To test editing an existing style, just right click on an element in a
document you have downloaded as it appears in the right frame of the
Panorama Pro viewer.  Select Edit style and the style editor dialog box
will appear.  Remember that the style for a particular element may have
been set in three ways:  for that element itself in its full context
(<archdesc><C01><C02><did><unittitle>); for the element in any context
(<unittitle> wherever it appears); or by inheritance from the style of a
parent or grandparent or great-grandparent element (the style
for<C01><did><unittitle> is inherited from the style for <C01>).  You
might try experimenting first with altering font styles, colors, and
sizes.  Try inserting text before an element.  Go to Before|Text|Specify
and insert \att(label)\t for <did><unittitle>.  It will insert the value
of the attribute "label" and a tab (assuming that one has defined a
value for this attribute in the document).

        With the forthcoming xml specification we will be both free of the
helper applications (your browser will be able to handle EAD files
directly) and we will have a single styles language for xml.  What that
will be has not been formally specified by the W3C group but is
scheduled to occur this fall.   Microsoft has just announced that it has
made a proposal but that, in accordance with W3C requirements, cannot
comment on what it is.  There are at least three suggestions on the
table, CCS (the styles language of html), DSSSL-O (which has its origins
in the sgml community), and a proposal from Bitstream with which I am
otherwise unfamiliar.   Until then we must move forward with the tools
we have. Good luck.

Michael Fox

Michael Fox
Head of Processing
Division of Library and Archives
Minnesota Historical Society
Voice:  612-296-1014
Fax:      612-296-9961
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