I don't think that author mode should have word-processor like features per se. It should have good visual structured editing features, some of which may resemble unstructured visual editing features, and some of which definitely will not. One of the consequences of structured writing is that style is an interpretation of structure, not something the author applies directly. So I don't think style menus belong in Author mode. To put it another way, author mode is a place to create structured text without having to look at angle brackets. It is not the place to define the formatting of a document. Allowing the author to manipulate the authoring CSS from the author interface will only encourage them to think they are changing how the final output will look, which, of course, they are not. One of the author mode features I really love in Oxygen is the ability to define a forms-like interface via CSS. This gives you the opportunity to make the structure explicit to the writer, hide the output formatting from them completely, and still give them a visual editing environment with no tags. Mark

-----Original Message----- From: oxygen-user-bounces@oxygenxml.com [mailto:oxygen-user- bounces@oxygenxml.com] On Behalf Of Robert Leif Sent: October 2, 2014 12:40 PM To: s.bauman@neu.edu; oxygen-user@oxygenxml.com Subject: [oXygen-user] Oxygen Author Mode as a Word-Processor; Was RE: Easy insertion of en/em-dash

I agree that author mode should have word-processor like features. Unfortunately, it lacks one major feature. It does not have the equivalent of a styles menu for body, paragraphs and fonts. Although, the underlying CSS page can contain all of the styling information in any order, the standard mode for a word-processor like Microsoft Word and preferably Adobe FrameMaker is to have separate menus for pages, paragraphs, fonts, etc. Since CSS has these levels, a CSS page can be and is often organized by them. Thus, a pull-down tree should be organized by them and at each level permit the user to change the style except when the style is read-only. The mechanism of making these changes should include fill-in suggestions. The result is an ultra-powerful web page and EPUB creation system that is much more powerful and versatile than Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker. Robert (Bob) Leif, Ph.D.

-----Original Message----- From: oxygen-user-bounces@oxygenxml.com [mailto:oxygen-user- bounces@oxygenxml.com] On Behalf Of Syd Bauman Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2014 6:38 AM To: <oxygen-user@oxygenxml.com> Subject: Re: [oXygen-user] Easy insertion of en/em-dash

Good point. I concede that I meant in "text" mode, and don't care much what hapens in author mode.

JK> I tend to disagree -- oXygen has two different products hidden below JK> "Text" and "Author" tabs. From author mode one would expect word JK> processor like features and current auto-correct options for smart JK> quotes can already be enabled/disabled. Of course in text mode JK> editor shouldn't mess with typed characters.

LC> That depends on what mode you are using it under. If you are LC> editing a DocBook, DITA, TEI, etc. in Author mode, then it could be LC> considered a words ?? processor. _______________________________________________ oXygen-user mailing list oXygen-user@oxygenxml.com http://www.oxygenxml.com/mailman/listinfo/oxygen-user

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Hi Bob,

I agree that author mode should have word-processor like features. It does not have the equivalent of a styles menu for body, paragraphs and fonts.

Hopefully such features will never!!! be implemented in oXygen Author. I like features which makes author's work as easy as possible. And if there would be a "do what I mean button", I would be very happy about it. But all this stuff should be content and not layout oriented. Of course, designing your XML structure with CSS-, FO designers etc. would be really cool. But this must not be part of the Xml Author (mode). I see this feature exclusive in Xml Editor, similar to XSLT and CSS editing. It is an administrative task and not author's job. I don't want getting oXygen a word processor. I want to have it what it is, a real cool, user-friendly XML editor, which is getting better and better. If I want a word processor I would use Word. And by the way: I really like FrameMaker, but allowing users to change their layout in any case they like, is not XML. Markus Wiedenmaier BTW: I agree, if there will be an auto completion, it should be turned off by default.