[SGVLUG] Call for webmasters

[David Lawyer]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 02:40:51AM -0700, Tom Emerson wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > David Lawyer
> > 
> > I'm in favor of a very simple site using say html 3.2 and not 
> > using any complex tags like the table tag.
> 
> ???  Since when is the "table" tag complex?

It takes several minutes to learn it and when you use it it isn't
WYSIWYG.  Just making a table in plain text is simpler since it looks
like a table.  Suppose I want to insert a new column into a text
table.  I use the block mode in vim, type the new column at the left
margin (one entry per line), define the new column  as a block and
insert the block at the right place in the table.  One doesn't even
need to use a mouse.

I suppose that if one needed to create a large number of tables, then
it would be worthwhile to use the html table format and perhaps a html
editor.  But if you already know vim and how to deal with blocks
(rectangles with monospaced font inside them), then it's easier to do
tables in plain text and use the html <pre> tag (Preserve) which is
<verb> (verbatim) in LinuxDoc.

> 
> > For my personal site, I use the linuxdoc markup ...
> 
> That's all well and good, but as you point out, it would mean
> The maintainers would need to learn "yet another language"
> (simple or otherwise)
>  
> > I think that the site should be simple enough so that anyone 
> > that knows the rudiments of html can maintain it.
> 
> Actually, here is what I've found of the packages we've "evaluated"
> (and ine we haven't)
> 
>   * Mambo: requires ZERO knowledge of HTML!  The editor boxes
>            have buttons and other things to "do the work for you"
>            (like bold/italic/underline, and yes, even tables)
> 
>   * Twiki: requires intimate knowledge of HTML and/or "pseudo-html"
>            (such as *bold*) as defined by the wiki software itself.
> 
>   * Phpwebsite: dunno.  Dustin has made me an admin, but I cannot figure 
>            out how to actually change anything on a page.
> 
>   * Movable Type: (not actually evaluated on his site, but I've used
>            it for my site)  requires SOME knowledge of HTML if 
>            you intend to do anything other than a default design.
>            While very similar to Mambo, the editor doesn't do the
>            work for you.
> 
> > think that text browsers like lynx should work OK with it.  
> 
> Hnnn... Is there a "lynx" template/theme available for Mambo?
> 
> 
> 
			David Lawyer