Re: word processor document format: what parts?

[Olof Oberg <mill pedgr571 sn umu se>]

Timothy Ritchey <tritchey@vne.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Computers are not doorknobs or lightswitches. They take training to
> learn how to use. Just as every one of us took some time to learn how to
> write, read a clock,a nd tie our shoes, there will always be a learning
> curve. People unreasonably believe they can sit down with a computer and
> know what to do. "my mother wouldn't know what to do" is not an excuse
> for poor design - either our mothers needs to buy a typewriter, or they
> need to spend half an hour reading the manual.

I agree fully. If we just gave the users a good manual with a lot 
of examples I think they will do just fine. The obsticle of doing 
word processing a different way they are used to is a minor one 
considering the benefits in the end.

I have followed some of the suggestions here and I am a little 
disappointed. Why should we make a Word clone? Isn't improvement 
one of the things GNOME is about too (see ORBit for example)? 

Also I think we are talking too much about DTDs and specific style 
languages. I think we have agreed that the native file format should 
be an application of XML. We don't have to sit here making up 'tags' 
though. We do need someone with enough experience to define what 
kind of structural elements the users might need (headers, sections, 
paragraphs, etc) and then to write a DTD shouldn't be that hard 
(or maybe we can find an existing one - DocBook).

Personally I think that most of the work will be in writing the 
rendering engine. Just taking a look at what CSS2 allows it seems 
to be an enormous effort and then we have DSSSL, which should be 
the goal. Well, somehow everything else looks kinda trivial imo.

 /mill

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