Re: Lout gui

[Pieter J. Kersten]

On Mon, 17 May 1999, Daren Scot Wilson wrote:

> I would like to see a fresh WYSIWYG design, not yet another copy of existing
> word processors.  Why copy a bad design?   I don't know what Lyx  is, but when
> I saw "Microsoft Word", that was a big turn-off!
> 
> What I would like most is:  1) See as much as possible of the document, using
> the entire screen, not cluttered with toolbars and sliders and stuff, and 2)
> Being able to keep styles of titles, section headings, with out the mental
> burden that most word processors require.   Ami-Pro has style  definitions,
> which I figured out after a while, but when I saw our company's sales manager
> try using it, I realized that style definitions are just not a good way to do
> things.  I'm not sure what's better, but surely better designs exist.
> 
> The only word processors I've used are: Ami-Pro, and a little of Word Perfect
> and MS Word, but didn't like it.   It seems to be a universal opinion - my
> sister, people I meet at get-togethers, where I work, at church, anywhere - no
> one likes MS Word, so I would worry about any project that intends to imitate
> it in any way.  Please ask around, find out who likes it, who doesn't, and 
> why,
> before committing to a design.
> 

Perhaps it is feasable to use FrameMaker's 'way of living'. It uses so
called 'master pages' which define the general layout of the document, and
'body pages' which define the contents of the document. It is possible
to extend the layout from within the body pages.
I also like FrameMaker's 'editor' approach: for every major style element
there is an editor which contents follows the focus of the mouse. Also
these editors are usable in every context of the document. For example,
the character(=font style) editor works also within the scope of the 
paragraph- and table editor.

Just my 2c.
-- 
Pieter J. Kersten; Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, dept. DI&A/S&N,
WH2-10, B. Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, Netherlands;
Voice: +31-10-4082642; Fax: +31-10-4089064