Re: DSSSL and WYSIWYG Editing

> * if you allow document reordering, for example so that the 1st paragraph
>   in a chapter appears above the title instead of after it (say), it's
>   going to be hard to avoid confused users, especially after an "insert
>   Paragraph" operation.

I would expect that users will not edit in a fully WYSIWYG environment.
This is the case in either CSS, DSSSL or any other style sheet language.
Some style sheet languages may not give you the capability to reorganize
content but all allow you to make content disappear. The usability
problems caused by this are exactly the same as those caused by
reorganized information. "Where did my element go? I typed it in,
updated the display and it disappeared!" This is a problem even in
traditional word processors. They also have style sheets that can make
content disappear.

I think that the most flexible solution is to have a different style
sheet for editing that keeps all of the information. It can be
WYSIWYGish, but not WYSIWYG. When you want to see the full WYSIWYG view
you flip over to the "publish preview" mode. As style sheet promoters we
must create these "edit" and "publish" style sheets for all major DTDs.

I used WordPerfect SGML over the weekend. It is only vaguely related to
this discussion. The interesting thing about it is that it makes it VERY
easy to switch between style sheets. (it calls them "layouts") It is
about as simple as switching from "normal mode" to "outline mode" in a
word processor that supports both. This is not so very amazing, but it
was nice to see that a traditional word processor got that particular
idea right. 

 Paul Prescod

Received on Tuesday, 6 May 1997 08:01:46 UTC