----- Original Message -----
From: "Brion Vibber" <brion(a)pobox.com>
A good document structure would allow useful editing
for both simple
paragraphs and complex features like tables and templates even on such
primitive devices, by giving a dedicated editing interface the
information it needs to address individual paragraphs, template
parameters, table cells, etc.
A 'dedicated editing interface' is the canonical counter example to my
#1 fundamental tenet of program and systems design: "Get The Glue Right".
The Right Glue, in this case, is bare HTML, which can be run nearly
everywhere these days.
I would go so far as to say that this sort of fallback
interface would
in fact be far superior to editing a big blob of wikitext on a small cell
phone screen -- finding the bit you want to edit in a huge paragraph full of
references and image thumbnails is pretty dreadful at the best of
times.
Of course it would.
But the target audience here isn't people who *have* anything else; it's
people in the Sudan. Well, the target audience I see from up here at 43,000
feet.
Cheers,
-- jra