DocBook/XSL/FO-HTML and Table Column Widths

[Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com>]

I have pretty much converted an old, large html-based set of docs into
DocBook 5.  The only chunk I'm not happy with are the tables which
need customizing to adjust column widths.

Adjusting the column widths seems problematic at the moment for one
using xsltproc.  I see that Norm Walsh has a Python wrapper to take
care of that (and I'll explore that soon), but that seems to add
another layer to the tool chain that is already daunting for a newbie.

My questions are:

1.  Where should the necessary missing functions and algorithms be
inserted, into xsltproc, or?

2.  Are the table column formatting functions really extensions, or
should they be considered part of a core standard that is missing in
xsltproc and other xsl programs?

I would like to offer my help for the situation but am not sure where to start.

Thanks,

-Tom

Thomas M. Browder, Jr.
Niceville, Florida
USA