Re: spell checking and search woes

Cristiano,

Yes, this directory management functionality would be nice, but it's  
getting beyond editor/browser functionality and into site management,  
which is farther away from central program objectives I would think.

Here's how I do this directory management task:

First, I work very hard to simply never have to change file names in a  
site, by placing all core content in a storage location (usually called  
"../library") and leaving it there forever. This avoids any chance of link  
rot due to moving things around at a later date. I then lay the logical  
structure of the site over this physical file structure scheme. Here, for  
example, are two imaginary breadcrumb lines which refer to files actually  
in my library subdirectory:

home > forms > intake > 2005-06-25a.html
home > clients > therapy support > 2006-02-01b.html

But...should I have to move something - or a lot of things - I use the  
jEdit editor, which has an excellent search facility (it always works -  
and just like one would expect!), and a nice Tidy plugin. The plugin will  
arrange the "href=..." and "src=..." attributes of tags in long lines so  
they may easily be searched for. (This is necessary because multiline  
search functionality is extremely rare - I've only seen it in  
Dreamweaver,) I can then usually (and very carefully!) do a site-wide  
search and replace on my link URLs.

But, primary, planning never to have to move a page, once stored onsite,  
is the best solution. The cost of this is URLs which, although simple, do  
not reflect site logical structure. Small cost, I think.

I wonder if anyone's going to reply on-List to my original post...?

Tom C.

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 16:01:34 -0800, Cristiano Guglielmetti  
<guglielmetti@tin.it> wrote:

>
> If I can add my humble point of view here, the real limit in Amaya as  
> Web editor is the total absence of directory management.
>
> I don't know if anyone use Amaya to manage  
> DB-Driven-large-e-business-e-procurement-customer-adaptive-dynamic-Web-site  
> but I think that specific tools such as Visual Studio .NET with .NET  
> framework are needed.
>
> But to managing document Web sites Amaya is excellent as editor to well  
> format documents but not to manages file and directory into the Web  
> site. So when you have the (insane) idea to change some  
> Web-sub-directory names Amaya doesn't provide any automatic adjustments  
> to the pages code. I totally dislike to use others Web tool to do this  
> (especially like Front Page) because those tools frequently change part  
> of pages code if you don't configure them very well (for instance they  
> add lots of meta tag).
>
> So, in others and fewer words, sometimes Amaya requires a lot of manual  
> work.
>
> R'grds
>
> Cristiano Guglielmetti
> http://xoomer.virgilio.it/guglielmetti/
>
> Peter Kerr wrote:
>>  On 24/02/2006, at 11:07 PM, Tom Cloyd wrote:
>>
>>> Amaya users, lovers, and developers:
>>>
>>> I continue to be baffled and frustrated by how spell checking and  
>>> search works in Amaya, and want to comment about why this is a problem  
>>> for me.
>>>
>>> The most fundamental problem is Amaya's insistence on being  
>>> idiosyncratic. A number of thoughtful people have written about  
>>> problems associated with user interface design - be it web sites or  
>>> application programs. As I read this material, what I encounter  
>>> repeatedly is the idea that one should NOT surprise the user, that it  
>>> is best to know what they expect and then to deliver it. In other  
>>> words, simply make the user happy, rather than making them work  
>>> needlessly to figure out your interface.
>>  In an ideal world, yes. Especially when the user is paying a vendor  
>> for commercial software, the vendor usually tries to satisfy the  
>> customers' desires. How much would you be prepared to pay for Amaya if  
>> it did most of what you want? It can never be all things to all people.  
>> But I agree with you (without acknowledging this is good or bad) that  
>> at present it tends to follow the FOSS lowest common denominator. I  
>> give Amaya some latitude here, because it has to satisfy users of  
>> different platforms. And quite a few of those users, and I suspect of  
>> the developers, use Linux distros where the user is expected to have to  
>> tweak things for himself.
>>  ...
>>> Say that I want to spell check an 18 page document I've just written  
>>> in Amaya (this was the case last night). I already know that I can't  
>>> predict what will happen when I push F7 to start the spell check  
>>> function. Sometimes it just won't work. Other times it immediately  
>>> opens the structure window and starts checking the text in THAT window  
>>> (WHAT??? WHY?? I don't want this at all. What just happened? < -  
>>> that's what I'm thinking at this point.) It's so simple: when I press  
>>> F7 I want a spell check of the text in the window which currently has  
>>> focus. Nothing more, nothing less. I do NOT want something strange and  
>>> unexpected to happen. Why can't I have this? Too often I just give up,  
>>> load my web page into another editor and use that, because it simply  
>>> always works like I expect it to work. Why doesn't Amaya give me this  
>>> experience?
>>  Well, Amaya is an editor and a browser/verifier. Combining "composer"  
>> and "browser" may be Amaya's fault. A browser will not normally allow  
>> you to change text in its window. Perhaps a MS style dialog is wanted?
>>      You are spell checking in a browser window.
>>     Any changes may do bad things to your formatting.
>>                                        [ OK ]
>>  ...
>>> Next, I want to do a search of my text. What's my expectation? That  
>>> I'm going to have to do too much thinking, and that maybe I'll get it  
>>> to work, but just as often I won't. Too often. The search function  
>>> opens with "Checking...after selection" as the default option checked.  
>>> WHY???? No other program I use does this. I practically NEVER want  
>>> this.
>>  Ahh, I nearly always want this. I'm trying to remember back how many  
>> of my word/text processors always started a search from the top, maybe  
>> 2. Now I know that I can select in the search box "From top" if I don't  
>> want the default of "from current position" and Amaya has this like all  
>> my other editors.
>>  ...
>>> If you're thinking at this point, "he just doesn't understand, so  
>>> let's explain it to him", you're headed the wrong direction. The goal  
>>> is to not HAVE to explain, with very basic functions like spell check  
>>> and search, is it not? It's like web site navigation - if it's not  
>>> obvious how to work it, then the design's wrong. It has to be obvious.  
>>> End of discussion.
>>  How about I don't explain, but just try to make excuses ;-)
>> Human Interface Design is the top end of operating system development.  
>> It takes an unfortunately large amount of effort in developing  
>> applications which have to work cross-platform. I use almost daily  
>> Windows 2k, XP, MacOS-X, and less frequently a flavor or 3 of Linux,  
>> and MacOS 9. It's often hard work remembering what this button does, or  
>> that keystroke, in those which are not my chosen favorite. Even  
>> "mature" applications with years of user feedback, still break users'  
>> expectations with new version releases (Word anyone?)
>>  ...
>>> Please, is there any chance this can be fixed in the near future?
>>  Sorry to harp on the commercial theme, but fixing things takes time  
>> and effort. There's plenty of shareware around at US$30 - $50 which is  
>> less functional, polished or standards compliant than Amaya. Amaya is  
>> excellent value at its current price. Enough dirty words, a quote from  
>> the home page:
>>     Amaya is an open source software project hosted by W3C.
>>    You are invited to <a  
>> href=http://www.w3.org/Amaya/Actors.html#contribute>
>>    contribute</a> in many forms (documentation, translation,
>>    writing code, fixing bugs, porting to other platforms...).
>>   BTW I do like your web page layout, Tom.
>>  Peter Kerr
>> School of Music
>> University of Auckland,  New Zealand
>>
>
>



-- 

================================================
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< TC.BestMindHealth.com / BestMindHealth.com >>
<< tomcloyd@bestmindhealth.com >>
================================================

Received on Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:17:21 UTC