SWML

[Steve Slevinski]

Hi Sandy,

For online use, both dictionaries and documents should probably be 
stored in a database.  Advanced searching and version control are much 
easier with a database.

SWML (or some other markup) is valuable for transferring data from one 
system to another, regardless of how each program stores the data 
internally.

While the markup languages may be large, they are easy to use.  
Compressed or binary formats can become troublesome.  The original 
SignWriter files are compressed binary files and very difficult to use.  

Sandy Fleming wrote:
> I have a problem with SWML, which is that it doesn't describe sign
> structure at all. It acts as a container for SignWriting rather than a
> description of the structure of SignWriting signs (or "characters" as I
> tend to call entire written signs these days).
>
>   
Sign structure...  Interesting topic, but I don't see the value for the 
writing system I'm working with, whether it uses drag & drop or 
keyboarding.  I see SignWriting as symbols in space.

I don't totally understand what you mean by sign structure.  It sounds 
like analysis.

I am interested in your project.  And if I can include any additional 
information in the markup languages, I'd be happy to discuss.  Importing 
and exporting between programs is important.

> For a keyboarding program, for example, the software needs to know which
> channel of communication (face, active hand, passive hand &c) it's
> typing in: the keyboard doesn't have enough keys to type every symbol so
> the program needs this structural context.
>
>   
Did you ever learn SignWriter keyboarding?  Have you taken a look at the 
keyboard design Val created for the IMWA?  It provides access to the 
entire symbol set using a keyboard.  Instead of channels it uses a 
cursor.  The cursor is centered around the last symbol typed.  You can 
rotate the cursor around the selected symbol.  Some characters have 
specific cursor placement, such as these heads.




Typing the first head would place the cursor above.  Typing the second 
would place the cursor below.

Regards,
-Steve
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