----- Original Message ----- From: Tony Baechler <tb@baechler.net>

Apparently context was lost here. The "why" is that, according to what Joshua was saying, the page numbers are not available anywhere in the plain text because they would look ugly. OK, I understand that and I myself might not even want them most of the time. However, if I decide that for a particular file I want them, I have to go to the master xml document and do my own conversion. The PG supplied plain text won't help me, and the html won't work correctly in Lynx or IE. Therefore, I have to redo the conversion to get the information I want in the plain text file or whatever other format. This does not seem simpler to me.

You're right, converting your own plain text is not simpler. Right now, if you grab the plain text file of any project in the collection, it won't have page numbers. Right now, if you grab a few select HTML files in the collection, it has an option to show page numbers. In the future, if you want what he have now, nothing will change. You'll grab the text file and it won't have page numbers. In the future, if you want something more/different than what we have now ... you can get it, but it requires an extra step. Right now, you can't get it, period. That's the advancement that XML promises. I really want people to understand that the move to XML master documents will NOT take away anything from what we have now. It will give us more options beyond that basic setup. Josh PS In the distant future, I foresee a web page where you can customize what options you want and the server generates the file to your specifications on the fly. That's down the road, though.