[oXygen-user] Oxygen Author Mode as a Word-Processor; Was RE: Easy insertion of en/em-dash

Mark Baker
Thu Oct 2 12:40:40 CDT 2014


I don't think that author mode should have word-processor like features per se. It should have good visual structured editing features, some of which may resemble unstructured visual editing features, and some of which definitely will not. One of the consequences of structured writing is that style is an interpretation of structure, not something the author applies directly. So I don't think style menus belong in Author mode.

To put it another way, author mode is a place to create structured text without having to look at angle brackets. It is not the place to define the formatting of a document. Allowing the author to manipulate the authoring CSS from the author interface will only encourage them to think they are changing how the final output will look, which, of course, they are not. 

One of the author mode features I really love in Oxygen is the ability to define a forms-like interface via CSS. This gives you the opportunity to make the structure explicit to the writer, hide the output formatting from them completely, and still give them a visual editing environment with no tags.

Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From:  [mailto:oxygen-user-
> ] On Behalf Of Robert Leif
> Sent: October 2, 2014 12:40 PM
> To: ; 
> Subject: [oXygen-user] Oxygen Author Mode as a Word-Processor; Was RE:
> Easy insertion of en/em-dash
> 
> I agree that author mode should have word-processor like features.
> Unfortunately, it lacks one major feature. It does not have the equivalent of
> a styles menu for body, paragraphs and fonts. Although, the underlying CSS
> page can contain all of the styling information in any order, the standard
> mode for a word-processor like Microsoft Word and preferably Adobe
> FrameMaker is to have separate menus for pages, paragraphs, fonts, etc.
> Since CSS has these levels, a CSS page can be and is often organized by them.
> Thus, a pull-down tree should be organized by them and at each level permit
> the user to change the style except when the style is read-only. The
> mechanism of making these changes should include fill-in suggestions. The
> result is an ultra-powerful web page and EPUB creation system that is much
> more powerful and versatile than Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker.
> Robert (Bob) Leif, Ph.D.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  [mailto:oxygen-user-
> ] On Behalf Of Syd Bauman
> Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2014 6:38 AM
> To: <>
> Subject: Re: [oXygen-user] Easy insertion of en/em-dash
> 
> Good point. I concede that I meant in "text" mode, and don't care much
> what hapens in author mode.
> 
> 
> JK> I tend to disagree -- oXygen has two different products hidden below
> JK> "Text" and "Author" tabs. From author mode one would expect word
> JK> processor like features and current auto-correct options for smart
> JK> quotes can already be enabled/disabled. Of course in text mode
> JK> editor shouldn't mess with typed characters.
> 
> LC> That depends on what mode you are using it under.  If you are
> LC> editing a DocBook, DITA, TEI, etc. in Author mode, then it could be
> LC> considered a words ?? processor.
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