This document contains a style sheet which will demo the features described. Arena 0.97e and later will be able to read this style sheet

Context-sensitive hints

It is sometimes useful to set style properties based on the context of the element. A typical example is the newspapers' bold paragraph after a headline: 

  /H1 P/: font.style = bold
In the style sheet, the initial "/" indicates the start of a pattern search. The trailing "/" is optional. All property assignments are performed on the last element of the search pattern. Subclasses can be specified in the search pattern: 
  /H1 P.ingress/: font.style = bold

The above examples are sequential patterns. Only top-level start tags (e.g P, H1, UL) are regarded in sequential search patterns.

By specifying a hierarchical search pattern, one can set properties based on the ancestors of an element. E.g., since headlines often are rendered in bold, one may want to assign a different color to the STRONG element within an headline: 

  (H1 STRONG): font.color = SteelBlue
This is also how you would control the appearance of various list levels: 
  (UL LI)      : font.style = bold & italic
  (UL(OL(LI))) : font.color = red
  (UL(UL(LI    : font.color = darkgreen
Note the variations in the syntax. They are all allowed, but which is the most intuitive?

Sample rendering:

howcome May, 1995