[Docutils-develop] containers and S5

[David G. <go...@py...>]

Today I checked in several changes, two of which I'll discuss here.

First, a new generic "container" element and directive.  This was
discussed early this months as a possible fix to a problem that turned
out not to be Docutils' problem.  However, it has been discussed
(under various terms) now and then, and I've been thinking about it
for a while, and decided that it would make a worthy addition.

Basically, it gives us the block/body equivalent of the generic
"inline" element: a do-nothing element that's just a place to hang a
"class" attribute.  In other words, an extension mechanism for users
and applications.

Second, an update to Chris Liechti's S5/HTML slide show writer (in
sandbox/cliechti/slideshow).  S5 1.1 was released recently by Eric
Meyers.  He added some features, and took the package into the Public
Domain.  I updated Chris' code to take advantage of the S5 1.1
changes, and removed the remaining wart that prevented it from being
added to the Docutils core: the "handout" directive.

In S5, any HTML element with a class="handout" attribute only displays
in handout mode & printouts.  Chris' "handout" directive put its
contents into a block quote with a class="handout" attribute, which
was obviously a workaround.  The new "container" element & directive
neatly obviates this awkward workaround.

I expect to add S5 to the Docutils core before too long.  In fact, I
hope to be using it (and perhaps even speaking about it!) at PyCon
next year.

--
David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>