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Agree with patio11, it's a pretty strong assumption to think non technical users will use some sort of markup language. Why make the markup language visible to

Agree with patio11, it's a pretty strong assumption to think non technical users will use some sort of markup language. Why make the markup language visible to users? I think that you should hide it behind a user friendly WYSIWYG interface, like google docs (bold, italic, lists, etc.). You can then use git or git-like processes behind the scenes and reprocess the result not to show markup to the user. I think that markup for non tech users is a bad experience and diffs with markup in them are even worse.

zimpenfish 16y ago
"it's a pretty strong assumption to think non technical users will use some sort of markup language" Yeah! Well, except all those who use some variety of bulletin board/forum with the random markup they entail. Probably not more than a couple hundred million of those people though.
- DeusExMachina 16y ago
  One thing is having markup in a place where usually you don't write more than a few lines, another is having it in a big document. One thing is having it a free forum, another is having it in a product you pay for. One thing is having to use it, another is to actually like it. And, as far as my experience goes, most of the posts in forums and the like are plain text. Not to mention that a lot of these forums are targeted at already somewhat technical people. EDIT: And, on a personal note, markup even annoys me, even if I'm a developer.
  - lfborjas 16y ago
    I think I made a mistake in my statement: it's not some random markup like textile or markdown, but the idea is more akin to a LaTeX-y interface, a WYSIWYM web-based editor. You have a good point, however, 'cause, coming to think of it, I wouldn't be targeting very non-tech people after all and they might very well expect stuff that's already done in git.
lfborjas 16y ago
You're right, it is a pretty strong assumption and I agree with providing a WYSIWYG interface, even though the language in question is WYSIWYM-oriented, I think the editor could be a sort of what lyx is to LaTeX.

zimpenfish 16y ago

"it's a pretty strong assumption to think non technical users will use some sort of markup language" Yeah! Well, except all those who use some variety of bulletin board/forum with the random markup they entail. Probably not more than a couple hundred million of those people though.

DeusExMachina 16y ago
One thing is having markup in a place where usually you don't write more than a few lines, another is having it in a big document. One thing is having it a free forum, another is having it in a product you pay for. One thing is having to use it, another is to actually like it. And, as far as my experience goes, most of the posts in forums and the like are plain text. Not to mention that a lot of these forums are targeted at already somewhat technical people. EDIT: And, on a personal note, markup even annoys me, even if I'm a developer.
- lfborjas 16y ago
  I think I made a mistake in my statement: it's not some random markup like textile or markdown, but the idea is more akin to a LaTeX-y interface, a WYSIWYM web-based editor. You have a good point, however, 'cause, coming to think of it, I wouldn't be targeting very non-tech people after all and they might very well expect stuff that's already done in git.

lfborjas 16y ago

You're right, it is a pretty strong assumption and I agree with providing a WYSIWYG interface, even though the language in question is WYSIWYM-oriented, I think the editor could be a sort of what lyx is to LaTeX.