Good morning, The combination of the two ways of editing is one of the features of loncapa that I love, and it is one of the reasons (among many) that I use loncapa exclusively for course management software. I do tend to use the xml editor first unless I need to figure out a new type of problem or need a refresher on specific coding items (such as graphing). Inserting anything in a problem using the colorful (graphical?) interface is annoying, especially in a long problem. It sounds like this is a feature that will be improved.
Funny thing - I just went into the colorful editor to see why I tend not to use it, and I have already learned something new about coding. I will probably start using it more often! I agree that blinking is not a good addition (coding already strains my eyes!). Sally Hunnicutt [image: Inline image 1] On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Stefan Dröschler <st.droesch...@ostfalia.de > wrote: > Hi, > > as you know we’re looking into improving the authoring space in LON-CAPA > and have already identified issues with both editors. I’ve demonstrated > solutions to some of them during the conference this year. > However, our goal is not to work on a replacement for the colourful editor > but instead focus on your item 4, namely streamlining the workflow in both > editors. That’s the best we can do given the available resources. > > Regarding your questions: > > > 1) We notice that the colorful editor is not used very often. Apart from > the psychedelic colors, why is that? What’s the problem with it? > > 2) Is there anything good about the colorful editor? > > 4) Think about the whole workflow of authoring problems: What is > important? What do you need? How can the whole process of authoring be > streamlined? > > > We’ve found, as others in this thread already pointed out, that the > colourful editor *is* used by almost all author types (ranging from novice > to expert authors). Users typically don’t stick to just one editor, but > might use both while working on authoring a problem. > Question 4 is interesting and highly relevant, but requires careful study > of how users interact with the system, what their goals and tasks are, how > they approach solutions etc. and, perhaps more importantly, what > discourages users from authoring problems. There’s a body of research in > HCI and UX that covers those topics, also some standards and guidelines > exist in this area (e.g. ISO 9241). > Furthermore, I believe it is necessary to be more specific about the > audience you’re trying to address. Experienced users (like those on this > list) have usually found ways to deal with their authoring problems and - > as some comments already pointed out - don’t really require a new editor > but instead would benefit from improvements to the existing ones. I wish > there was a one size fits all solution to this, but don’t believe so. A > cleaned up and well documented language for LON-CAPA resources, something > Damien is working on, accompanied by some tools could be a cornerstone for > community-developed solutions to this problem. > > 3) We always hear “WYSIWYG,” but when you really think about it, that’s > quite impossible: LON-CAPA problems have deep structure, and there is a lot > that “you do not see,” but that’s important: parameters, scripts, … how > would “WYSIWYG" look in this scenario? > > 5) Do you know of any editor on the web that is approximately doing what > we need? Some good design examples for us to look at? > > > I don’t think a pure WYSIWYG solution would be sufficient, but I can > imagine something along the lines of modern IDEs, e.g. Apple’s Xcode, in > which the User Interface is created in a WYSIWYG-like editor and the code > is created in a source code editor (with many assisting features). However, > such an environment is getting complex easily and wouldn’t solve the issues > for novice users. For this group I could envision something like WYSIWYG > editable templates, which would work similar to the current template > mechanism when you create a new problem, but would allow for editing in a > WYSIWYG mode. This second approach should be straightforward and easy to > implement. > > BTW have you considered replacing or extending the colourful editor with > Damien’s editor Daxe or some of its ideas? > > Stefan > > -- > Stefan Dröschler > > Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften > Hochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel > ZeLL - Zentrum für erfolgreiches Lehren und Lernen > Salzdahlumer Str. 46/48 > Büro: Am Exer 10d > 38302 Wolfenbüttel > > Fon: ++49 5331 939 17250 > http://www.ostfalia.de/zell > > On 09 Oct 2014, at 19:09, Gerd Kortemeyer <ko...@lite.msu.edu> wrote: > > Hi, > > We are trying to figure out how the next generation content/problem editor > should work, and we really need input. > > 1) We notice that the colorful editor is not used very often. Apart from > the psychedelic colors, why is that? What’s the problem with it? > > 2) Is there anything good about the colorful editor? > > 3) We always hear “WYSIWYG,” but when you really think about it, that’s > quite impossible: LON-CAPA problems have deep structure, and there is a lot > that “you do not see,” but that’s important: parameters, scripts, … how > would “WYSIWYG" look in this scenario? > > 4) Think about the whole workflow of authoring problems: What is > important? What do you need? How can the whole process of authoring be > streamlined? > > 5) Do you know of any editor on the web that is approximately doing what > we need? Some good design examples for us to look at? > > Anyway, please discuss on the list now. We do not have the developer > capacity to allow us the luxury of going down the wrong track. > > - Gerd. > _______________________________________________ > LON-CAPA-users mailing list > LON-CAPA-users@mail.lon-capa.org > http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-users > > > > _______________________________________________ > LON-CAPA-users mailing list > LON-CAPA-users@mail.lon-capa.org > http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-users > >
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