On Sun, 2005-01-23 at 13:41 +0100, Fredrik Lundh wrote: > Alan Kennedy wrote: > > If I can't find such a markup language, then I might instead end up using a > > WYSIWYG editing > > component that gives the user a GUI and generates (x)html. > > > > htmlArea: http://www.htmlarea.com/ > > Editlet: http://www.editlet.com/ > > > > But I'd prefer a markup solution. > > some of these are amazingly usable. have you asked your users what they > prefer? (or maybe you are your user? ;-)
Most users prefer to write documents in word and then paste them into textareas. Not surprisingly means no semantic content, little chance of restyling, horrible encoding problems and far too long spent on the phone trying to explain why it's not a good idea. Giving users a wysiwyg textarea creates the problems that users start to spend time trying to create a 'styled' document, inevitably sacrificing semantics (many is the user that has applied a header style to make things bold or a quote sytle to indent a paragraph). Using text based layouts reinforces the perception that you aren't creating a styled document and that the semantic structure is important. People who have used non-wysiwyg editors have found that their initial reticence has been quickly overtaken by their joy at not having to fight with 'style' and the reassurance that their content is now 'redesign proof'. Tim Parkin http://www.pollenation.net -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
