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Re: HTML editor: does everyone need to be on the same page?
Subject:Re: HTML editor: does everyone need to be on the same page? From:Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 28 Aug 2001 12:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
--- didjit *** <didjit_ -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> I am working on a project where the project lead is obsessive about making
> all of the writers involved use a specific HTML editor. While I am flexible
> about the tools that I use, the tool about which this project lead is
> obsessive, requires me to use an operating system I'd rather not. Hint:
> it's a Microsoft product. I don't have any problems with Windows, but if I
> can just abide by a set of coding guidelines that will ensure my HTML is up
> to spec, do I really need to switch operating systems?
Not from an HTML standpoint, you don't, but I suspect this isn't about the HTML
code. It is possible that your project lead doesn't have a clue as to how to
code HTML and either isn't interested in learning or is too swamped to be able
to make time to learn even HTML code. I would further suggest that there are no
"coding guidelines" that they can give you. They're probably treating their
HTML editor like a word processor and setting their standards in relation to
the WYSIWYG output.
I won't pass judgment on this approach. It's more of a doc. publishing approach
than it is a web development approach. They don't know the proprietary markup
language being used by their word processing program, either, so I doubt they
see a need to know the HTML code.
> Would you all venture to say that if we are all supplying HTML as the source
> it is the quality of the HTML source that I deliver that needs to be
> accurate, and this does not have anything to do with the editor that is
> used?
Yes and no. In an ideal world--or even in a reasonable world--as long as your
output conformed to the overall style and uploaded to the server and displayed
correctly, that would be all that matters. But in the world *I* live in <g>,
some of these web management programs take perfectly reasonable, perfectly
workable code and do things to it that make me cry. However, if you stay within
the WYSIWYG editor environment, while you may not think the code produced is
sufficiently elegant, that code doesn't get pillaged by the editor/manager
software. It's possible that your lead has had a bad experience with just that
sort of thing and therefore distrusts anything that isn't produced with the
standard tool. That's sad, but that's also a likely fact of life for that lead.
> Does anyone know of, or possibly fathom, a reason that one particular HTML
> editor needs to be used in a collaborative project? I for one, think that
> the WYSIWYG editors just add garbage and detract from the cleanlines of the
> source. If I can write code in LPEX or Notepad or whatever, shouldn't that
> suffice? After all, I thought Al Gore invented the Internet so that we
> could all communicate regardless of OS.
As I said earlier, in a truly just world your's would be the only reasonable
position. But it ain't. I'll stipulate that WYSIWYG editors add 'stuff' to the
code that isn't necessary and code things sometimes in most inelegant ways. But
it sounds like you're working in relative large place with lots of "standards"
in place. They don't really know what they're doing, but that have a tool that
meets their need to produce HTML output while maintaining their Documentation
Process unchanged. That's a situation I'm afraid you'll have to live with or
work to change gradually over time. Probably lots of time.
I doubt this is an argument you can win, even if virtue is on your side.
=====
Tom Murrell
Lead Technical Writer
Alliance Data Systems
Columbus, Ohio mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/
Page Last Updated 07/15/01
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