Re: Leventhal's challenge misses the point (long)

Miles Sabin wrote:
> 
> James Clark wrote,
> > I can't see anything in there that is beyond the
> > skills of somebody who can write XML+CSS.
> 
> I you meant XML+CSS+DOM, then I agree.

I meant what I said.

> XML+CSS need
> be nothing like so problematic for non-programmers
> because usable tools ought to be quite feasible.

Inso has demonstrated an XSL editing tool.  It seemed quite useable to
me.

> > I don't claim to be an expert on what's easy for non-
> > programmers, but I don't think that the major
> > companies that are supporting the development of XSLT,
> > like Microsoft, Oracle, Lotus and IBM (see Appendix D
> > of the XSLT WD for a complete list) would be bothering
> > with it if it was completely unuseable by non-
> > programmers.
> 
> So where are the studies then? Or are you just taking
> it on faith?

I don't know what studies XSL WG members have done.  I'm not in a
position to perform useability studies myself. I do base my opinion
about useability to a large extent on input from other XSL WG members.
Collectively the XSL WG has an enormous amount of experience in the
publishing industry, and I believe they have a good sense of what
non-programmers will be able to understand (certainly better than mine);
many of the members of the XSL WG are not programmers.  Also remember
that Microsoft has deployed an XSL implementation very broadly; they've
had a lot of feedback, and their input to the XSL WG based on that
feedback has been a significant factor in how XSLT has evolved.

James


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