HtX is a language designed to create and manage information spaces on the World Wide Web. By information space (IS) we mean designed concurrently according to a specified style, which together convey some conceptual whole. A good example of an IS is this user guide, which is spread out over a set of separate web pages but is intended to be a single document.
HtX's power lies in its ability to provide the pieces for creating a uniform style. Rather than enforcing any particular visual look and feel, or pattern of interconnection, HtX allows the author to build his or her own style using the primitive tools provided by the system. Such a style can be captured in a style file and used to create multiple IS's with similar appearance and hyperlink structure. For example, this user guide makes use of the help style. The help style is an extension of one of the primitive HtX styles, the report style, which provides the basic visual look and tools for management of sections, subsections, etc. For the help style we have, for example, added tools for managing the large reference library of HtX commands that appears at the end of the document. One tool creates a uniform style for the presentation of items in this library. Another automates the insertion of a hyperlink reference from a command mentioned in the text to its definition in library. All of these tools are contained in the help style file and can be reused and/or modified to be used in other similar documents, for example the documentation of a programming language.
HtX is part of DRAGN, a project at Oberlin College funded by the National Science Foundation through the CISE Educational Infrastructure program. As such, the system will be available for educational and non-profit use free of charge. The language itself was created and is being developed by Richard Salter. Others actively associated with HtX development are Fritz Ruehr and Rhys Price Jones. Various students have also contributed much to the project, and they are gratefully acknowledged below.
This user guide is meant to function both as a tutorial and reference guide for prospective authors of HtX documents using the styles provided in the distribution. A separate document on style creation is being prepared. The first section is an introduction and overview on creating an HtX source document and converting it to an IS. The second section is a tutorial, which shows you how to create a simple HtX document and translate it to HTML. The third section provides more depth on document preparation by describing the standard style, the set of fundamental tools provided by the HtX system.
Subsequent sections discuss the various styles included in the distribution. They consist mainly of annotated examples. Each annotated example contains an HtX source file and a link to the resulting IS. The source file is annotated in the sense that instances where the particular style's tools are being used are hyperlinked to notes that describe what is going on. We have found this to be an effective way of learning to use a new style.
With this guide you should be able to get started with the standard style and the styles included in the distribution. Start with the introduction and standard style section. If you have had experience with you will likely find this a quick read. Wherever possible, LaTeX compatibility has been maintained. In fact, in many cases LaTeX documentation suffices for documenting HtX. If you are not familiar with LaTeX, you should not find learning the fundamental rules of HtX particularly daunting. The standard style contains most of the machinery needed to prepare textually-rich documents such as this one, and learning it thoroughly will provide you with most of the skills you need to take advantage of what HtX has to offer.
This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation
under grant number CDA-9312578.