----- Original Message -----
From: "Brion Vibber"
<brion(a)pobox.com>
Requiring people to do all their document
creation at this level is
like asking people to punch binary ASCII codes into cards by hand -- it's
low-level grunt work that computers can handle for us. We have
keyboards and monitors to replace punchcards; not only has this let most
people
stop
worrying about memorizing ASCII code points,
it's let us go beyond
fixed-width ASCII text (a monitor emulating a teletype, which was
really a friendlier version of punch cards) to have things like
_graphics_.
Text can be in different sizes, different styles,
and different
languages. We
can see pictures; we can draw pictures; we can
use colors and shapes to
create
a far richer, more creative experience for the
user.
None of which will be visible on phones from my Blackberry on down, which,
IIRC, make up more than 50% of the Internet access points on the planet.
Minimalism is your friend; I can presently *edit* wikipedia on that BB,
with no CSS, JS, or images. That's A Good Thing.
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.
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.
-- brion