Re: [9fans] Re: Building GCC

[lucio@proxima.alt.za]

> i realize there are holes around the edges.  i don't see how to
> edit or select a layout, just the text within layouts.  maybe
> select skips non-text bits.
> 
> what's so wrong about this idea?

Nothing, you need to think out of the box.  Current selection in
sam/acme is linear, even though it is shown as two-dimensional.  Text
is treated as linear (might explain why HTML tabels are treated with
contempt) even though it has some two-dimensional properties, at least
on the screen or on paper.

For layouts (I'm pretty ignorant here, please excuse any blunder I may
utter), you need at least as many dimensions as occur in the
representation, one is not a practical option, two would be normal,
more will no doubt be possible in the future.  My gut feel is that
once one breaks away from the linear interpretation of text, a lot of
things will fall into place.

One thought is that vertical font sizes are an additional dimension,
while images are merely single characters with unusual height and
width.  The horizontal character size is in the first dimension, of
course.

As for mark-ups, they require their own treatment, probably along the
lines of living in a separate layer as would be the case in image
editing.  Using layers seems to me like a good concept to edit
enhanced text.  Perhaps horizontal and vertical dimensions also belong
in layers distinct from the abstract text.

Just a naive idea...

++L