At 23:38 14/05/2014 +1000, Marina Tadiello wrote:
In general, and from a user's perspective, Styles are one example of how common users are encouraged (or forced? :-) to think ("program") and behave like computers.
It's perhaps worth pointing out that the truth is diametrically opposite to this claim! Users who ask to "reveal codes" are asking to look at the inner workings of the program and to see how (they perceive that) it and the computer actually work. Developers who offer facilities such as styles are allowing users to use programs and computers in the way *the users* think, not how the machinery does.
If you want, say, a paragraph to be indented, you want the paragraph indented, pure and simple. And that's what styles allow you to say. If you prefer the codes, you need to say "Start indenting the text from this point onwards" and separately "Stop the indenting of text that you have been practising up to now". That's the way programs and computers may need to think, but it is not the way real users do naturally.
Have you ever been asked to double-space a document? Probably. Has anyone ever asked you instead to set double spacing at the beginning of the document and then turn it off at the end? Of course not: that's not how people think and speak!
This is not necessarily the best way to ensure "user satisfaction".
1. Remember that local formatting is still available: no-one is forced to use styles. 2. Many users are most satisfied using a word processor as if it were a typewriter. Their satisfaction should not be allowed to limit the advancement of software and facilities that can be appreciated by others.
Brian Barker
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