---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 14:58:38 -0700
From: Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com>
Subject: Re: Cost per title... (2 messages)

Thursday, November 02, 2000, 6:31:47 AM, you wrote:

I must say that I have failed again to make myself clear.
----

As have we, so let's try again.

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How does one identify the precise location of a quoted passage that exists
in an HTML file that has no page numbers of its own? What page numbers
would you put in brackets?
----

Any sort of page numbers you wanted.  You could put in a "page number"
every fifty (or any other number) lines, for example.  This isn't
greatly different from the way lines are numbered in some legal materials.

Yes, "fifty lines" may be 40 or 100, depending on browser width, font
size set in the browser, and so forth.  However, the page notation
would still delineate sections, whatever you wished to call them.

----
In my experience with HTML, it paginates according to the size of the text
and the size of the page. A file may use 5 pages or 8 pages depending upon
the user's settings.
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Yes, that is correct.  But, as noted above page numbers (or whatever
else you wanted to call them) could be inserted for reference or for
more precise citations.

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On-screen presentation uses no page numbers. A precise reference that is
easy with a traditional source is not possible with HTML.
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No, it IS possible.  It isn't frequently done now, but it certainly
could be.  For that matter, W3C could come up with some standard to
codify such divisions or notations.

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HTML output also garbles and loses lines.
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Nonsense.  HTML doesn't garble or lose anything.  A bad connection, a
sickly or overloaded computer, a funky browser, or other things can do
that. Of course those things can also mess up any other computer
protocols that are used.

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If one cares, one must read carefully and perhaps compare the output with
the source file. The is a standard in publishers' production that is being
foisted on unsuspecting readers.
----

Of course there is no guarantee that the "source file" is right,
either.  It could be garbled in transmission, on a bad disk, or
otherwise compromised.  In fact, it is something like the man who has
two clocks never knowing what time it really is.

cheers

dan

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan@RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.postcard.org  www.gailndan.com