Re: [xsl] XSLT WYSIWYG WEB Editor

["Robert Koberg" <rob@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:10:50 -0500, Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Potentially, there also exists the equivalent of "canned" XSLT much as
> someone might sell you canned chicken soup, which you could just warm up
> on the stove and not have to cook yourself (though some might consider
> even that to be "cooking"). This might appear as a web-form-based
> interface allowing users to tweak settings which would generate XSLT in
> back, which could then be run. But just as when, if you buy chicken soup
> in a can you can only have chicken soup (and it might not even be very
> good soup), so also, such XSLT would have to be fairly limited in
> application. Also, contriving and configuring such a system is the work
> of real experts (the UI design would be non-trivial, to say nothing of
> the integration), just as corporations that sell processed food have
> professional chefs and chemists working for them. This doesn't make it
> useless -- canned soup is a good thing -- but it does mean that it isn't
> something you can exactly buy off the shelf and plug in. It requires
> real engineering to set it up properly even if someone else has already
> built the "canning equipment". Accordingly, the market for this kind of
> web application has been slow to develop.

Yep. We do this with our CMS and when I talk to someone it is the first
thing I bring up. That is, "we thought XSL was a great thing (and still
do) but you probably do not have the staff or access to consultants to be
able to handle it yourself."

When I thought about our business model in 2000, I thought we were putting
the ability of a clean separation in the hands of the client. But the best
results we have seen have used us as the XSL/webapp producer (who would
guess that using your own product in the way you want would work :). I
don't say this to gather market - rather as an admission that we have not
accomplished what we set out to.

Truly, I am sorry to admit this. We have tried to provide basic XSL that
in turn provides basic HTML to be styled by CSS, but, it turns out (at
least for now) that people cannot deal with it.

As for the cooking analogy: Even though I am not a chef, I can live on
kraft (or annie's) macaroni and cheese. You just add a can of tuna. You
should use way less butter/margerine than they suggest (you want to be
able to get a bunch on your fork rather than letting it slither off). And
if you want to make it a delicacy, add some cream cheese and sardines.
Oooohh. My wife will beat me for this post.

-Rob

> If you could build such a system successfully and then generalize it so
> others could install, configure and use it more easily than they could
> learn to use XSLT, you'd have a chance to get really rich.
>
> Cheers,
> Wendell
>
>
>
> ======================================================================
> Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
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