[cap-talk] an attempt at web-calculus in a paragraph for hackers

[Sandro Magi]

Tyler Close wrote:
> This all looks good. You have a few different options for implementing it:
> 
> 1. The XSLT associated with the container resource uses XSLT's
> document() function to grab the XML for the sub-resources (individual
> emails, etc). This XSLT transforms all these separate XML files into a
> single HTML file. (This is how the wiki implements transclusion.)

This is what I was thinking of, to coincide with typical web frameworks 
that provide component rendering of some sort.

> 2. The XSLT associated with the container resource generates HTML
> containing frames, whose targets are the URLs for the sub-resources.
> 
> 3. An AJAX style application in which Javascript code grabs the XML
> for the sub-resources and renders them.

I had considered this, particularly with a toolkit like Dojo which 
maintains the functionality of the back button (it appends fragments at 
the end of the URL for requests thereby simulating page navigation).

> 4. Probably some other ways I haven't thought of.
> 
> In all of these options, you have the choice of funnelling all the
> user interaction through the container resource, or letting the user
> dig down to the sub-resources. I prefer to give the user the ability
> to get direct references to the sub resources.

I agree that having the sub-resources directly addressable in some 
fashion would be preferable. This way one can send a link to a single 
e-mail instead of one's whole inbox.

Sandro