Mozilla Composer features #2
Here's the proposal :
- xulrunner-based, cross-platform, tri-license as always
- new codebase
- higher customizability of the menus and toolbars
- aggregable toolbars
- ability to add new buttons for a given markup element w/o having to write an XPI
- multi-sidebars, on both left and right of screen
- full screen mode with auto-hideable toolbars and status bar
- better and nicer SVG-based horizontal and vertical rulers.
- accessibility : ATAG
- source view with syntax highlight, code completion and
informational tooltips
- possibly ability to load a document in source view only, so people doing HTML in PHP instead of PHP in HTML stop ranting
- real Browse mode instead of the current Preview mode that many people don't understand
- better and smarter site manager ; possibly reusing bits
from the excellent fireftp ?
- link checker
- subversion ?
- dedicated new serializer, with options à la Tidy
- ability to say bodytext in not allowed in a document (i.e. block state goes to paragraph when you end a header or a list)
- much better templates, with a powerful template manager
- html and xhtml blank documents are just a blank template
- get rid of about:blank being the default blank document
- multi-lingual documents ?
- error/warning reporting (markup, css, js)
- new sidebars (possibly not builtin but available as
add-ons)
- tree view of the document
- CSS inline styles
- HTML attributes
- CSS reference
- HTML reference
- stylesheet management
- behaviours (contribution proposal by Zbigniew Braniecki aka gandalf)
- widgets, clip arts, and possibly special effects
- possibly direct link with live editors' repositories : AjaxWrite, Writely or others
- improved AllTags mode
- slow removal of non-CSS editing
- "use CSS" will be the default ; the option will be hidden
- the idea is to get rid of the current inline styles generated by the toolbar buttons to move to embedded stylesheets and classes/IDs.
- if it's possible, syncro between Normal and Source views displayed at the same time
- filters on paste and load to be able to load/copy content created by MSWord for instance and get rid of all microsoftisms
- I don't want to add frame management. I think frames are dead.
- p2p-based shared set of tips and suggestions (could AllPeers help here ?)
Comments and suggestions welcome by email at daniel at glazman dot org.
Comments
Soo.. when will it be released :P
Traduction en français dans www.linuxfr.org/2006/09/2... .
I found this really neat XHTML editor implemented as a firefox extension:
Mimulus:
inamidst.com/mimulus/
Here's their site's blurb:
It turns any tab into a WYSIWYG editor, enabling a cursor and letting you change existing content just by typing in the browser window, or add new elements such as headings and lists using simple key combinations. It saves to your hard drive, has an option to let you edit the source, and is as minimally invasive as possible. It's great for taking quick HTML notes.
no frame support, but what about iframe ?
do you think it will disappear ?
Frames may not be the best solution, but they are still used. When someone wants to load their frames-based website in Nvu they get a confusing error message like that some error has occurred. Nvu could better tell them that (i)frames are not supported in Nvu and how to overcome this.
It would be really cool if Nvu could help people design sites without frames. Now we have to tell people they should not use frames, but CSS provides a better solution. However, the next question is "ok, so how do I convert my frames-based website to proper CSS code ?" However, that is far more difficult than creating a frames-based website. So that is why often people are still creating frames-based websites. It would be nice if Nvu would ship with HTML templates that could help a user create a website that looks like a frames-based website but in fact it is completely standards-based. I hope your point of "much better templates" also improves this situation.
7. accessibility : ATAG
I will certainly welcome and applaude efforts in trying to comply with ATAG 1.0 guidelines.
15. error/warning reporting (markup, css, js)
I have a suggestion on this. Hire Marc Gueury to implement the Tidy and HTML validation parts as built-in features! He is already very capable to do this.
HTML VALIDATOR (based on Tidy and OpenSP)
users.skynet.be/mgueury/m...
"validation with a SGML parser (OpenSP). It is the same algorithm program than the one running on validator.w3.org. The validation is done based on the DTD definition of HTML."
users.skynet.be/mgueury/m...
I would put the validation features is the menu under Tools. The validation would be a great step over/above what Nvu 1.0 (and KompoZer) is able to do. With a built-in true validation (SGML parsing), there would be no need to upload, no need to connect to the internet. With the tidy and accessibility reports, one can furthermore clean the code, improve a page, and upgrade an old page. It's a 3-in-1 validation tool with more flexibility and self-independence over traditional validation over a free services like validator.w3.org/
16.4 and 16.5: CSS reference and HTML reference
Excellent! This way the product is self-sufficient by itself, making the author/user self-independent.
20.filters on paste and load to be able to load/copy content created by MSWord for instance and get rid of all microsoftisms
This is already doable, can be done with Tidy and HandCoder 0.3.4!
"word-2000 This option specifies if Tidy should go to great pains to strip out all the surplus stuff Microsoft Word 2000 inserts when you save Word documents as 'Web pages'. Doesn't handle embedded images or VML. You should consider using Word's "Save As: Web Page, Filtered"."
tidy.sourceforge.net/docs...
Also:
"drop-proprietary-attributes This option specifies if Tidy should strip out proprietary attributes, such as MS data binding attributes."
tidy.sourceforge.net/docs...
Also:
Table Nette: extension nettoie les tableaux importés de Microsoft Office ou de vieux logiciels.
extensions.geckozone.org/...
What I have in mind is to join, merge, to unite all of the current Nvu markup cleaner capabilities, Tidy capabilities and TableNette capabilities into 1 single code cleaner feature.
21. Frames are dead.
And frames reduce accessibility, reduce usability, indexability, interoperability, searchability.
Gérard