[oXygen-user] Difference between incomplete and incorrect

[Mark Baker]

I'm writing a book in DocBook. It is the first time I have used oXygen to
write in a schema that I did not create myself, and I am therefore relying a
lot more than I normally do on the cues that the editor gives me. 

 

One of those cues are the validation errors. The problem is, they are all
signaled with RED. That makes sense if you have entered something illegal,
but most of the time they appear because you have begun to create a complex
structure and that structure is currently incomplete. From an author's point
of view, that's not an error, I just haven't finished yet. 

 

Where oXygen can generate the whole structure, it does, so no error is
shown, but there are many cases where it can't because what is required is
one of one or more options. In these cases, the structured does not become
legal until the author adds additional elements. The thing is, RED means
stop, but the author, in this case should continue. RED means you did
something wrong, but in these cases, the author simply hasn't finished yet. 

 

I find the editor is constantly slowing me down by throwing up these errors
that I have to analyse each time to determine if I need to go on or if I
need to back up. When I design a schema, I try to avoid creating these kinds
of structures, for just this reason, but sometimes they cannot be avoided.

 

My question is, is there a way, and do folks think it is desirable, to
present a different cue for incomplete structures than for erroneous ones.
At minimum, use a different color, such as yellow, for incomplete. Ideally,
find some way to indicate that the author is on the right track and needs to
continue.

 

Thoughts?

 

Mark

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