Very cool! It got me daydreaming about an alternative to html designed from the ground up to minimize webpage bloat and avoid tracking (1x1 pixel gifs, etc.)
XML is a standard format for markup (e.g. HTML). When XML is used where it shouldn't (object serialization) it adds complexity. Here it signals that creating a report is as simple (or at least as standard) as creating HTML. What other format you had in mind?
You can still write xml-compliant HTML; whether it's called XHTML or not is splitting hairs. You still get all the benefits of a very rich toolset for document preparation. I work on a site that makes heavy use of xslt and works with xml-compliant HTML as input/output.
XML and XHTML are two different things. Related, but different. XHTML is no longer encouraged for website markup, that part is true too. That does not mean that XML is no longer encouraged.
IMO JSON is less readable for this kind of document. XML is more explicit (at the cost of being chatty) but it's actually good for markup. For example nesting is easier to visually manage with XML due to tooling and explicitness of closing tags.
JSON is good for smaller objects you normally use during coding where you do not want the format to get in your way. Here I actually do want a very explicit format as it's the main thing.
Impressive. I keep using bare xterm since it still supports Tektronix emulation (but, unfortunately, no Regis nor Sixel). This seems like a viable substitution for all three.
xterm actually does support ReGIS and Sixel graphics! However, it must be compiled with --enable-regis-graphics` (or `--enable-sixel-graphics`); and it's likely that your distro didn't compile it with those flags. If they did, you can get ReGIS support by running xterm in VT340 mode (`-ti vt340`).
Haven't tried this. Just want to know -- what advantage does this give over using gnu plot with sixel output?
I can see the advantage over tek 4010 (this could be dynamic). If this is static (again, haven't tried yet), with multiple pages, why not just use tek 4010?
I also don't understand the admonish to use something other than xterm. What is the issue that was observed?
this uses xterm, so it's more accessible to most users than the other alternatives you mentioned. also note wopr is not just about the graphs (like https://github.com/yaronn/blessed-contrib) but also about having a declarative format, and even consuming it with curl.
To support graphical installers and specific service administrators that are used to using a GUI on a server? I knew an Oracle DBA once that always wanted X and and Gnome installed on the the RHEL DB servers, it was what he knew and was comfortable with when installing Oracle.
I'd love to be told I'm wrong though. It's the best thing when you discover how to usefully use awesome but hitherto useless tools :p