Subject: Re: Reveal codes (was Re: Zero-length Runs and show codes)
From: WJCarpenter (bill-abisource@carpenter.ORG)
Date: Thu Feb 15 2001 - 15:22:19 CST
ben> Besides, how many decent HTMl people don't look at the source?
Luckily, for Abiword, the first approximation of this is that you can
look at the XML with a text editor (or even an XML-specific editor)
and get fine-grained details that any GUI attempt could only approach
anyhow.
But is the real question about showing all the detailed format codes,
or is it more like what the current Abiword implementation happens to
do? It shows you a bit more about Abiword's idea of the technical
structure of the document. You want and hope that the technical
structure of the document matches the visible structure, but it's more
than possible for either the program or the human to get the wrong
idea. Strangeness results. Attempts to correct the strangeness
without appreciating the mismatch can compound it. (Any pilots here?
Death spiral, right?)
Yeah, I think we can all agree that Abiword should be implemented
completely and perfectly. I agree that revealing format codes is
mostly a sort of a crutch for when that fails. OK, now, show of
hands: who believes that Abiword will be the first large project in
the history of computer science to be both perfect and complete?
-- bill@carpenter.ORG (WJCarpenter) PGP 0x91865119 38 95 1B 69 C9 C6 3D 25 73 46 32 04 69 D6 ED F3
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