XML DTD question: Is it true that once you define the elements that are allowed in certain elements, then they have to be that way across the board? For example, if in a t para element, you allow t guimenuitem but you really only want t guimenuitem to be allowed within a certain structure ( t para within a t step ), can you make that happen? Or are the rules for t para elements always the same no matter where in the structure they appear?

From the FAQ:

Google Web Accelerator uses various strategies to make your web pages load faster, including:

* Sending your page requests through Google machines dedicated to handling Google Web Accelerator traffic. * Storing copies of frequently looked at pages to make them quickly accessible. * Downloading only the updates if a web page has changed slightly since you last viewed it. * Prefetching certain pages onto your computer in advance. * Managing your Internet connection to reduce delays. * Compressing data before sending it to your computer.

So, basically, it's a cache. Some people hate the idea of caching data because it means that there are unaccounted-for copies all over the Interbunny.

Without knowing what I'm talking about, I got the impression from signal v. noise that google web accelerator pre-caches all links when you're on a website. And so they're hitting the server whether you follow a link or not. Does this sound like I'm onto it?

P.S. suddenly my posting text is double-spaced.

ETA: but it's not double-spaced when I post. Oooh, this is weird. It got all double-spaced again when I edited the above paragraph.

My browsers haven't yet got the hang of caching data. Now google's doing it too?

are the rules for elements always the same no matter where in the structure they appear?

Using DTDs, yes. If your validation tools support it, there's an alternative to DTDs, called RelaxNG, that can do what you want.

Dang. Thanks, Tom. I've been arguing this with my co-worker for like ever. It seems weird to me that you can have all of this structure but not be able to use it to change the rules for elements within them. We use XMetaL as our editor and I know you can "hide" elements there that are still in the DTD so that's probably what we'll do.

It seems weird to me that you can have all of this structure but not be able to use it to change the rules for elements within them.

That's why RelaxNG was invented.

And so they're hitting the server whether you follow a link or not.

It's the other way around. If you follow a link, they save it. The next time you follow the link, they give you the saved copy unless there's reason to believe it's out of date. So you wind up with fewer server hits, not more.

Now google's doing it too?

Forget it, Jake, it's betatown.

There definitely used to be web accelerators that ran on that principle. They'd grab the text of links, then the images, using a choice system based on your habits. They were actually quite good (though, yes, meanish to servers) when reading text-heavy pages with fewish links. Now that the internet tends to have billions of links per page (as it should, but didn't for a long time), they probably don't work quite as well.