Re: [chairs] Michael Priestly and an unspoken assumption

[Michael Priestley <mpriestl@ca.ibm.com>]

Hi Patrick,

The user does not need to see the descriptive
markup. Depending on the user type, this could be a good idea or a bad
idea (I'm a power user, I want to see the markup; but someone who is providing
input to a process without wanting to understand it's every detail probably
doesn't want to see the markup).

So I don't think this is the assumption
that is separating us, since we both agree there are at least times when
the descriptive markup should not be seen by the user.

I'm not sure how "the reports we
have seen about DITA on this list" support this answer though. JoAnn
Hackos noted that you can author DITA using Word with a plugin, and I noted
that you can author it in a web browser without seeing the markup, so the
difference between DITA and ODF is not about whether the markup is shown.
A "WYSIWYG" DITA editor does not expose the markup to the users,
but it does enforce the rules associated with that markup (like <title>
being the first thing in a document).

Mary's example showing the difference
between underlying ODF and DocBook markup reinforced the point for me.
The user may feel like they're creating something similar when they author
the content, but one creates content that is easy for machines to process,
and predictable enough to heuristically validate. This is not meant to
be a knock against ODF; just a reiteration of the fact that ODF and OOXML
are not the same kind of XML animal as DITA or DocBook.

Michael Priestley, Senior Technical
Staff Member (STSM)
Lead IBM DITA Architect 
mpriestl@ca.ibm.com
http://dita.xml.org/blog/25

From:	Patrick Durusau <patrick@durusau.net>
To:	"chairs@lists.oasis-open.org" <chairs@lists.oasis-open.org>
Date:	04/22/2010 06:52 PM
Subject:	[chairs] Michael Priestly and an unspoken assumption

---

Greetings!

It occurred to me while eating supper that perhaps Michael Priestly and
I are disagreeing over an unspoken assumption. Perhaps not but here goes...

Must a user who is using *descriptive* markup, see the *descriptive* markup?

My answer would be no. And as evidence I would cite the experience with
ODF, the reports we have seen about DITA on this list and other examples
of interfaces that don't display descriptive markup to users and yet the
users are clearly using (in my sense of the term) *descriptive* markup.

Question: Is that an unspoken assumption that is dividing us?

Just curious. It isn't something that occurred to me to ask earlier.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Patrick

-- 
Patrick Durusau
patrick@durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)