From: muts@compi.hobby.nl (Peter Mutsaers) Subject: Re: Why WYSIWYG is for IQ < 120 Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 20:57:59 GMT
>> On 6 Aug 1993 01:02:30 GMT, tzs@hardy.u.washington.edu (Tim Smith)
>> said:
> more important than content. But for the sort of
> industrial-strength documentation we do at AT&T, batch markup
> languages appear to have an advantage.
TS> This conclusion does not follow from the experiment. All the
TS> experiment showed was that the people in the WYSIWYG group found
TS> it easier to waste time.
But that is just one of the key problems of WYSIWYG! That is a very
important conclusion and one (of the many) good reasons that
typesetting systems are better. Many people, including myself, need
self protection from wasting time with layout instead of working on
the contents.
TS> A proper comparison would include a group using the WYSISYG
TS> software, but not bothering with the layout until the end. It
TS> is perfectly feasible to use a WYSIWYG system that way.
That requires an unrealistic amount of self discipline.
By the way, in spite of all my arguments in favour of TeX and against
WYSIWYG, I would be very glad if such a word processor will become
available for Linux, because it will help the acceptance of Linux and
sometimes even I cannot prevent from having to use such a thing for
compatability reasons.
-- _____________________________________________ Peter Mutsaers, Bunnik (Ut), the Netherlands.