would we be better off with a programmable typesetter instead of whatever the hell the html5 stack is 
hear me out for this derp take
the claim we have css is to 'separate content and data' and all that except this literally doesn't happen and if you even try it just breaks everything and we still don't even have basic typesetting primitives.
like ok look
scribus, tex et all works on text boxes and content panes. you put in rectangles where words go and they can flow from one pane to another when it spills over.
HTML is supposed to be for documents yes?
then why is it so bad at that
the claim we have css is to 'separate content and data' and all that except this literally doesn't happen and if you even try it just breaks everything and we still don't even have basic typesetting primitives.
like ok look
scribus, tex et all works on text boxes and content panes. you put in rectangles where words go and they can flow from one pane to another when it spills over.
HTML is supposed to be for documents yes?
then why is it so bad at that
lets take a moment and look at how humans have actually written documents for hundreds of years
html fails to represent things like footnotes, it can't represent flowing text fields, it can't wrap text around complex images
css is supposed to style this content
css can't implement footnoes, css also doesn't flow text properly, css does not even begin to honor any semblance of typographic standards like baselines and half the time you have to go make special shim tags in the html in order to get css to "semantically" style it.
the entire stack is just fucked and fails its basic precept
html fails to represent things like footnotes, it can't represent flowing text fields, it can't wrap text around complex images
css is supposed to style this content
css can't implement footnoes, css also doesn't flow text properly, css does not even begin to honor any semblance of typographic standards like baselines and half the time you have to go make special shim tags in the html in order to get css to "semantically" style it.
the entire stack is just fucked and fails its basic precept
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@icedquinn Scrolls made from animal skin and written on with Iron gall ink is the only acceptable format for writing documents. Everything else is a disgrace.
