Re: Re: Shadow Alterntive - Redux.

If Jeff find the time and interest to work on Shadow on the Desktop, all I really want is the ability to do outline format (that is replace the check boxes with a system of graduated forma outline markers such as I, A, 1, a, i or various editing signs, or preferably both), just as he has on the Palm. Much easier than rewriting the entire application. If I could write code I might try it myself, but I am a writer, not a programmer. I can live with what I have, it just isn't as nice as it was on the Palm and is more difficult to manage with complex outlines, where you can become confused among the multiple levels.

And Windows does need a decent outliner. 

 Bert Latamore
IT Journalist, Report Writer and Book Doctor
From tweets and blogs to white papers and books: 
You provide the information; I craft the words.




________________________________
From: shovavnik <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 10:13:16 AM
Subject: Re: [shadow-discuss] Re: Shadow Alterntive - Redux.

  
To clarify, I'd say there are four different ways (at least) a browser can
show you a Shadow outline:

1. As raw XML. This basically means that you "navigate" the browser to your
Shadow outline (e.g., using File>>Open). The browser will show the content
of the XML file with all the special XML markup. This will show all the
content of the XML and will have pretty colors and expand/collapse
capabilities on the tree. However, it will probably be mostly unusable to
you, because you'll see the raw data with all the special XML tags that
programmers and software use. Also, this content will be read-only inside
the browser, which is not really an editor. So this option is probably
irrelevant. Note that the browser makes the otherwise bland XML look pretty
to ease sore programmers' eyes by using a built-in XSL stylesheet.

2. As exported HTML. That is, export the outline from within Shadow Desktop
to see it in the browser. It will still be read-only, but if you don't need
to edit the file in the browser, it will be very readable and useful. For
example, the printed HTML is probably more esthetically pleasing than the
printed output from within Shadow Desktop. If I'm not mistaken, Shadow
Desktop has its own templating system, so this option probably does not use
XSL (but you'd have to ask Jeff).

3. As transformed XML. This is just like #2, except that someone has to
write the XSL stylesheet. Probably more effort than its worth, especially if
you need an editor.

4. As an editable document. This is what you're looking for, but requires
significant effort. A programmer would have to write all the code to load
and save the original Shadow outline, make it editable and intuitive, and
overcome all kinds of limitations imposed by browsers to enhance security.
This is pretty much equivalent to writing a new Shadow application from the
ground up. This is probably a good idea, and I personally think Jeff can't
go wrong taking this route himself, but it will take some time to implement.

I hope that makes things clearer.

shovavnik

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Bert Latamore <bertlatamore@ yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
> I got kind of lost in all the technical discussion which went over my head
> frankly. Are you saying that I can read Shadow outlines in Firefox?
> .
>
> 
>

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