On Sun, 29 Nov 2015 16:25:04 -0800 Garret Wilson <gar...@globalmentor.com> wrote:
> I (via my company, GlobalMentor, Inc.) am creating a course for > training developers in Java from the ground up. We have a group of > developers over half-way finished with the course, and soon I will be > starting another group of students in Brazil (where they speak > Portuguese). > > I personally am writing all the curriculum from scratch. I have > chosen the documentation format to be XHTML5. It is a simple > structure, with only a few CSS classes, but I heavily use semantic > HTML5, including <aside>, <figure>, <code>, <kbd>, <dfn>, etc. I need > an editor for me to finish writing the curriculum. I need the editor > to be cross-platform, and easy enough that my Portuguese translators, > who are not developers, will understand how to use it without > corrupting the documents. > > My requirements are simple: > > * The output is well-formed XML in UTF-8. > * The output maintains the XML element structure. > * The output supports editing of HTML5-specific elements. > * The line endings are correct (CRLF vs LF) for the platform. > * Some sort of editing view that is at least partly WYSIWYG. > > > You can hardly get any simpler than those requirements. Yet everybody > fails! Everything out there is crap, crap, crap! I've found the exact same thing looking for bookwriting software. In my case, my objection to most (but not XXE) was their incredible rush to replace semantics with appearances as early as possible, leaving no room for me to insert programs to change things. It *should* be so easy: Just pass along the styles. But nooooooooo. XXE doesn't suffer that problem: I just didn't have time to fully evaluate it. > (This is why I'm > creating the Java developer course to begin with, because most people > I interviewed didn't even know the basics. It seems like most people > who wrote many of these software packages didn't know the basics, > either.) Very few people are writer/self-publishers, so they haven't a clue about our needs. They convert our semantics to appearances by any means necessary, without any facility for us to step in and change their choices, and they think their jobs are done. (Once again, this does NOT describe XXE). > > Let's see what's out there: > > * BlueGriffin: Very nice WYSIWYG interface with extensive CSS > handling, but is broken: > o When wrapping lines it will sometimes output CRCRLF sequences, > which are invalid on all platforms. > o Within <pre> blocks it doesn't escape < and >, making the > output not well-formed XML. > o The shortcut keys aren't standard at all, and the interface > for remapping them is buggy. For me, BlueGriffon wrote pidgeon HTML that was unmaintainable. [snip] > * XXE: Very good at maintaining structure and attributes (if I > remember correctly), but: > o The developers didn't even bother using the correct line > endings for the platform (Java 101) > o I don't know what other issues, because I have been repeatedly > told by XXE support that XXE is not for me, so I haven't > bothered testing further. If your only problem is XXE ending lines with LFLF instead of CRLF (and by the way, if you ever do this on Linux, it should be *just* LF), you have no problem at all. Just write a filter program that changes every instance of LFLF to CRLF, and run it on the output of XXE. On a Linux computer it would be a simple sed command: I don't know how it's done in Windows, except to say that it could be written as a C program in 15 minutes. Anyway, your conversion program should give you the exact output you want out of XXE. By the way, you forgot Bluefish on your list of authoring tools. It's an editor with tag matching and zencoding, and it knows HTML and XHTML (but not XHTML5). I use Bluefish to author all of Troubleshooters.Com's latest web pages, and *might* temporarily use it to write books, but in the long run I'm making my own book authoring format, called Stylz: http://www.troubleshooters.com/projects/stylz/cheatsheet.htm I don't think stylz is right for your needs because of your heavy use of semantic XHTML5, but it will work well for me once it's fully specified and I've written the conversion programs. Anyway, given your needs and choices, I'd just go ahead and write a little converter program so XXE gives you the desired output. SteveT Steve Litt November 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques -- XMLmind XML Editor Support List xmleditor-support@xmlmind.com http://www.xmlmind.com/mailman/listinfo/xmleditor-support
