I also can not answer your questions, but strongly support the idea that a document should be viewed and edited in the same place. Why do I have to open a new program/component to edit a document? I would like to see the edit features made available in the browser and then if I need to get fancy I can press a button or select edit bar from the viwew menu, giving me access to the table editor and other important editing features.
Charley Manske wrote: > I'm not the best person to answer all of you questions in detail, but I > definitely share your interest and want to encourage more discussion on > these topics. > Charley > > Stefano Mazzocchi wrote: > >> Dear Mozilla-Editor group, >> >> first of all, thanks for the outstanding job you guys are doing on such >> a difficult project. I'm positive that in the future, Mozilla will do >> for the client-side web what Apache did on the server-side, keeping open >> standards "open" and keeping other players "sane". >> >> I'm writing you because I'm the author of an XML publishing framework >> called Cocoon (see http://xml.apache.org/cocoon2/ for more info) and we >> are getting close to hit the big wall of digital publishing: how content >> is edited. >> >> After looking around for a tons of editing solutions, both open and >> closed, I came to the conclusion that inline-editing is the key, after >> having used an editor called "Xopus" (look in Google for more info) >> which uses special IE 5.5+ inline-editing functionalities of the MSHTML >> component, along with in-place XML/XSLT transformations. >> >> The concept is *way* cool, even if Xopus had to jump thru hoops to do it >> in IE and for sure there are many things that could be improved, but the >> idea is simple: >> >> current Composer is done for people that want to write their own HTML >> pages, but nowadays, there is absolutely no need for that in a closed >> environment (think of intranet, extranet): editors (here I mean the >> people that edit) should be given a structured-WYSIWYG tool that allows >> them to edit content, but *ONLY* the content they are responsible for >> (thus avoiding changing the other parts like sidebars, banners, etc...) >> >> IE 5.5 has a special attribute contentEditable="" which, if set to true >> (even thru scripting) turns the element editable. [see attached a demo >> page cloned from a CNN.com page, of course, it works only on IE 5.5+] >> >> While their current implmentation has major WYSIWYG limitations (text >> doesn't go around images, for example), the concept is, IMO, a great >> one. >> >> The ideal tool for structured-content editing, in my personal vision, >> should be something that "forces" the editors to write the content only >> in the position allowed, but with the full visual simplicity of WYSIWYG >> (not with forms and stuff like that). >> >> Even more, the editor should not even open/save the content using normal >> files, but sending back the content to the server. This allows for >> *true* distributed editing environments and for *true* content workflow >> management. >> >> Ok, this said, I have a couple of questions: >> >> 1) is there anything like the IE feature of contentEditable="" for >> Mozilla? >> >> 2) if not, did you guys already plan to implement it? > > > We don't have it now, but we are definitely aware of how cool and > important this could be. All of the current work aimed at making the > editor embeddable is on the path toward this capability. > > >> 3) if not, would you be willing to do it after my suggestion? > > >> 4) if not, how hard do you think that would be for external people to do >> it? >> >> 5) do you see/plan/imagine equivalent solutions that are possible with >> today's code or with planned future additions? >> >> 5) moreover, it is possible to use the Composer to edit generic XML >> content? I mean, associating with some event the creation of a specific >> element and use CSS to present it? > > > Some of us are also very interested in this capability. I'd say that > mozilla help (i.e., outside Netscape) would really make this move faster. > > >> >> 6) finally, what is the current status of embeddability of the editor? > > > As I said above, we are definitely working on this! Others in the editor > core group can provide the details on current state and plans. > > >> Sorry for the long email, but I see great potential in Mozilla and if >> something like this structured-WYSIWYG on XML editing could be possible, >> Mozilla will instantly turn into the "browser of choice" for intranet >> and extranet that are based on XML content published and transformed on >> the server side. (which is the trend that most companies are initiating >> right now) >> >> Thanks for your time and keep up the great work! >> >> Ciao. >> >> >
