Re: [Groff] tbl problem

[Bernd Warken]

On Wed, Nov 14, 2001 at 07:17:49PM -0000, Ted Harding wrote:
> 
> Since, apparently, 'tbl' is not aware of which device
> will be used, fixing this within 'tbl' involves restructuring
> the way 'tbl' constructs its output (particularly the line
> drawing). This would mean outputting a line like
> 
Once there was a strict separation between troff and nroff.
Would it help to map preprocessor structures to groff nodes that 
are only differentiated within groff when it is clear if the intended
device is troff- or nroff-like?

For example, take eqn `$x sub 1$'.  In ps, this has a nice graphical
representation of x with index 1.  For tty output, however, this 
is implemented as a font change.  But it could also be mapped to
`x_1' as is done by mathematicians to write formulas in a linear 
way (e.g. in emails).  So nroff- and troff-like output differs in a
fundamental way.  

Maybe its better to call these two cases as graphical and text 
interface instead of troff/nroff.

Bernd Warken