The Structuralist Manifesto is a document in progress. It was originally posted on Sept. 3, 1998. It will continue to be edited as time and feedback demands.
The Manifesto has been validated with the W3C Validation Service and passed with flying colors. This document has its origin as an SGML document, the HTML is generated from that document. Other formats can be genereated too — if you're interested in an RTF version, please email me at the email address below.
This idea of Structuralism was born out of frustration. The Manifesto originally started out as a somewhat satiric essay, loosely based on the Communist Manifesto, but as I wrote it I realized that I really had some deep feelings on this issue. I was frustrated as I surfed the web and realized that most of the folks who make web pages — even the more "cool" pages on the web — really have no idea what a well structured document is like. They don't know the blessings of single source to multiple output formats, they only know what FrontPage or some other "Web Editor" will let them get away with if they happen to have the proper server installed. They have no idea that using data outside of the context of such applications is a virtually impossible task. Hopefully, they'll read this information and see the light.
If you agree with the basic ideas of what I'm currently calling "Structuralism" and would like to provide links to other "Structuralist" resources, sign the guest book and let the world know.
The future of Structuralism is uncertain. I'm looking for a new, more descriptive title for this school of thought. I'd like to see what the interest is in this area. Perhaps a newsletter of sorts could develop if the interest is there, and if others are willing to contribute.
This page was last updated 09/03/1998.