Web tool vs. straight HTML

Wed Sep 18 15:11:29 EDT 1996

Harry M. Kriz writes:

>I recall that when WYSIWYG word processors began appearing on campus some of
>our GML markup experts ridiculed them as not providing enough control, not
>having a complete feature set, etc., etc.
>
>The debate about HTML is following the same pattern. But soon no one will be
>editing HTML code After all, how many of us write a letter or report by
>inserting control codes and formatting commands into a Word document.

On the other hand, most word processors I know of do a pretty good job of
not producing syntactically broken word processing documents. Almost all of
the HTML editors I've seen will blithely you enter overlapping elements,
create out of context <li>s, enter multiple <head>s, omit <title>,...

When validation is an inherent component of 'WYSIWYG' editors (who has to
run their WordPerfect documents through an external validator?), I'll feel
safe recommending them to users, but not before. I'm definitely not of the
"typing builds character" school, but my linguistics background has left me
with a soft spot for good syntax. :-)

PG
_______________________________
Peter C. Gorman
University of Wisconsin
General Library System
Automation Services
pcgorman at facstaff.wisc.edu