Now that a straightforward way to program rich text capabilities has appeared, it's time to discuss more important matters, namely:
1. Is adding rich text editing to Leo a good idea? This is non-trivial question! See the summary below. 2. How would rich text work and what will it look like? I presume that rich text capabilities would be built into the body pane. I will reject any proposal for free-standing editors. It seems nonsensical to put rich text capabilities in the viewrendered pane. The big problem with rich text is it introduces a mode bit (See The Soul of a New Machine). At present, the body pane contains "plain" text, though it may colorized. If Leo supports rich text, there must be one or more ways to indicate whether *each* node is rich text or not. In effect, we have a mode bit for each node. The various options:: A. A global default. This is straightforward in concept, but will cause complications for newbies. And it still must be able to be overridden for each node. B. A "switch" in each headline: something like @rich (if the default is plain) or @text (if the default is rich). Consistent in *form* with Leo's existing conventions. Alas, it would conflict with @file, @test etc. etc. C. An *always present* icon in the body pane. Intuitive for newbies, but wastes screen space. Could be disabled by, ugh, yet another setting. If this switch is on, then all the formatting icons will appear above the body pane. ===== Summary As I write this, I am getting less and less excited about this project, no matter how easy it may be to code up. Every feature added to Leo makes Leo more complex and difficult to learn. It may also require dedicated screen space. Furthermore, I am far from convinced that I would ever use rich text. Finally, all development work spent on rich text detracts from other projects. In short, I don't much like the added complexity resulting from rich text capabilities. No Kent, I don't believe that adding this feature will result in Leo taking over the world ;-) Your comments please, Amigos. Edward -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
