On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 12:43 AM, Keith J. Schultz <schultzk@uni-trier.de>wrote:
Hi Don,
You pretty well sum up what is wrong at PG.
You begin by describing what a user can do that is the tool offered for editing to the user. Simple and idiot proof.
What you have forgotten is that the to with its user friendly interface is actually muscling databases and vcs-system behind the scenes.
I have not forgotten. I write those kinds of backend software. Two of them are the ones used at DP-Itsly and eb.tbicl.org. One is loosely based on DP. The other is based on plain-vanilla wordpress and I can give you an account to edit any of the EB articles using any of the various wp editors, including RST, markdown, and the customized one I'm using with my own toolbar on it. I'm thinking about integrating anthologize to support multiple output formats, including epub and pdf.
One is 100% custom software except for phpbb3 (just like DP.) The other is 95% OTS software, 4% OSS pluginis for wordpress, and 1% custom configuration software. The difference is that I start from user requirements and let them determine which tools to use on the backend. I'm extremely frustrated here because no one seems to want to talk about user requirements and everyone is eager to talk about their favorite technology..