Separation of presentation and content

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Separation of presentation and content (or "separate content from presentation") is common idiom, a design philosophy, and a methodology applied in various technical contexts, including information retrieval, template processing, web design, web development, and model-driven development. It is a specific instance of the more general philosophy, Separation of concerns.

Contents 1 Precise meaning 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Precise meaning

When invoked as an idiom, the underlying concept is represented with varying levels of precision and with differing connotations. Some apply the concept prescriptively (reductionism), others use it heuristically or didactically. Sometimes the precise level of intended meaning is left unclear.

The varying levels of precision applied to this concept is sometimes the source of some confusion, contradiction, and trial and error. This makes it difficult to specify conclusively when (or if) the philosophy is sucessfully fulfilled for any given implementation (see also, leaky abstraction).

[edit] See also

More general:

• Separation of concerns
• Templates

More specific:

• Separation of style and content (applied using web style sheets)
• Style sheets used in desktop publishing
• Template systems

Related:

• Internationalization (related concept)

^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries: Second European Conference, Ecdl '98 by Christos Nikolaou, Constantine Stephanidis - 1998 - 911 pages

[edit] External links

• CSS Zen Garden: A site which challenges designers to create new page layouts without touching the XHTML source. Includes dozens of layouts. CSS source can be viewed for every layout.