Subject: Re: outlines vs. lists (was Re: Commit: Various Lists UI improvements.)
From: Randy Kramer (rhkramer@fast.net)
Date: Fri Feb 02 2001 - 21:50:55 CST
Paul,
Thanks for your post, I think it helps to clarify a subject that was
certainly confusing me (the difference between lists and outlines, and I
was probably guilty of throwing in the additional confusion with
numbering).
I am uncertain what you mean by your very last statement. If you are
suggesting that a collapsible outline is more of a niche product and
should not be part of a word processor like AbiWord, I would be
disappointed.
I'm sure there are very few people who use collapsible outlining, but I
think it is one of those features that is underused because people
aren't aware of how useful it is (like stylesheets, (or templates, as
Word calls them now)).
Anyway, I'm just trying to cast a vote to not exclude collapsible
outlining as a future feature of AbiWord.
Randy Kramer
Paul Rohr wrote:
>
> I'm confused. Are people blurring the line between two (or three) distinct
> features here?
>
> Automatic numbering
> -------------------
> ... can be used to recalculate the values of any ordered sequence. For
> example, chapters or figures or tables.
>
> Lists
> -----
> ... are nested (indented) paragraphs with bullets or numbering. This is
> presentational markup at the paragraph level. Lists often use automatic
> numbering.
>
> Outline mode
> ------------
> ... is a means for navigating a hierarchical structure by expanding and
> collapsing information. This type of UI could theoretically be applied to
> *any* sort of hierarchy:
>
> - lists,
> - statement nesting in your favorite programming language,
> - the document / section / chapter hierarchy, or
> - heading 1 - 9
>
> In fact, there's a dead category of software which focused on treating *all*
> content as outlines first, and documents second. The rest of the world now
> considers outline mode to be a feature of specific products.
>
> bottom line
> -----------
> ASSERT(autonum != list != outline)
>
> Paul
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Fri Feb 02 2001 - 21:54:37 CST