> Structured information is an artificial artifact needed by > computers in > most cases. We humans to not need it or want it! We are > visual! (That is > our freedom)
Well, humans *do* need structure (we're not very efficient in an unorganized environment), but your point is very valid. That said, we ARE using computers. There are obvious advantages for doing so, and the computer DOES need structure for it to best manage and then disseminate it in a plethora of formats to display on a range of presentation devices. The whole separation of content vs. presentation offers the one main benefit of allowing content to be delivered in an infinite number of ways to an infinite number of presentation devices. Therefore, it *is* important for the content author to begin thinking in a structured manner. Structure does not hinder creative freedom. It may induce some compromises, but that's the inherent nature of creating content outside of a static presentation. I think there is a bit of the "I'm a writer and I don't want to use your stupid WYSIWYG editor because I like the way I've been doing it for years" issue here too. There's the attitude that software should adjust to the user and the opposite, the user should adjust to the software. The problem with the former is that the term 'user' is too granular of a goal. Each person is different. Therefore a certain amount of structure needs to be given to the user, and the software needs to make a certain amount of accomodations to accomodate the ways of the user to meet at a compromise. -Darrel -- http://cms-list.org/ trim your replies for good karma.
