Perhaps someone has already done what I propose below -- but if they haven't
it shouldn't be hard:
Why not just take the Mosaic code and add editing capabilities to it? Mosaic
is a tool designed to take raw data in HTML format and display it on-screen
as a WYSIWYG document.
Why not just extend that by adding the capability to edit and "tag paragraphs"
and insert graphics ala MS Word, FrameMaker, et. al. so that as the user
edits the Mosaic display the results are stored back in the source HTML format?
With this arrangement, you would have WYSIWYG (which is what Mosaic gives you
anyway), you have easy HTML construction, and you eliminate the testing
step because you see things exactly the way that Mosaic (or other HTML
browsers) will interpret them.
As an aside, I think that companies like Microsoft and Frame ought to give us
a break and let us read/write <by default> directly to (compressed) MIF, HTML,
etc. without these extra conversion steps or special SaveAs options, thus
bypassing their proprietary file storage formats. Somebody needs to give us
open desktop publishing! But that is a side issue.
Likewise, I think ease-of-use is really a separate issue from whether or not
HTML should be extended. I still stick by my feeling that communication
improvements will eventually accommodate the people who want to do
sophisticated design, if only through the ability to upload highly pictorial
layouts as straight gif, jpeg, etc. without the hassle of slow transmission
time.
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