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Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] Using OpenOffice as a DocBook editor


Dave Pawson wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-09-08 at 15:16 +0200, Sean Wheller wrote:
> 
> 
>>Somehow, I don't think any of that helps. The problem with most tools such as 
>>OOo W is that they give amazing formatting features at the click of a button. 
>>The result is an XML that has all nature of information that is just over 
>>kill.
>>
>>No matter how much you tell Johnny, "Don't use the the styles in this list or 
>>apply local formatting." Johnny is just unable to contain himself. 
> 
> 
> 
> If you think you can channel peoples creativity with pointy brackets
> rather than an office tool, go ahead and try.
>  I've tried for 7 years and failed.
> If you get it to work, bottle it and sell it Sean!
> 
> It's the people problem, as XP is wont to tell us.
> 
> At least with OoO we are starting from something people are familiar
> with.

I don't quite agree. Letting people mess with xml syntax is not the alternative,
but making them think about the semantics (i.e. the structure) instead of the
style, is.
If you force people to ask the right question, i.e. 'what do you *really*
want to do' whenever they are tempted to decorate some text with a different style,
they may understand and adher to any given structural constraint.

If the editor people are using has menu items such as 'emphasis' or 'paragraph'
instead of 'italic' and 'line break', they may understand what structured documents
are about. xmlmind's xml editor is a good example for how to do that, I believe.

Regards,
		Stefan


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