From: "Jim Salmons" <salmons@sohodojo.com> To: <zdp@zope.org> Subject: RE: [ZDP] Wysiwyg = bad... Date sent: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 11:03:19 -0400
Rik,
WYSIWYG web editors are for folks who think that presentation is more important than content. By separating content from presentation, ZOPE helps to get away from the naive notion that WEB PAGES are analogous to DESKTOP PUBLISHING PAGES. They are not.
An author DICTATES the presentation of a desktop publishing page. A web page author SUGGESTS the page and lets the browser render it. Minimal, flexible code is the best way to let browsers do their job. And, most importantly, just like in software, simple coding breaks less so your time is spent on content, not worthless tweaking of fragile presentation.
A decent ZOPE site should not need WYSIWYG editing. With custom input forms to contribute content and context-aware presentation template views, there is no need for WYSIWYG editing. At most, folks might want to place minimal formatting tags (bold, italic, anchor tags) into contributed text content.
If someone is doing a site that requires extensive WYSIWYG pages, they don't need ZOPE and they probably shouldn't use ZOPE. This is fine by me, because sites that think WYSIWYG presentation is more important than content generally suck anyway.
ZOPE is best applied by those who realize that content is king, not presentation.
Off the 'back to basics' soapbox,
Ok, I agree content is much more important than presentation and that even presentation should be taken care of by professionals and should be fit onto the content. But ... Ever tried to convince the people who make decisions in an organization of this point, in competition with flashy looking products with big names behind them (unmaintainable, but whose problem is that anyway :-[)? When they have never ever seen a browser, let alone use one? Back to basics will leave you alone in a situation where many people have to use the web even if they are nothing more than users (such as a university). greetings Rik