[ZDP] Wysiwyg = bad...

[Rik Hoekstra]

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