[brailleblaster] Re: Dropping the import item on the file menu
- From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:21:56 -0500
Well, I think the user would expect importing other formats to be mostly
automatic. I am thinking of what MSWord does, since that's the word
procesor I'm familiar with. Export would be handled by the SaveAs item.
I'm not sure just what the Save item should do if the file was not in
the internal format originally. I think it should savein the internal
format.
Do word processors give users warning when conversion may not preserve
everything in the original file? If conversion was not entirely faithful
we could pop up a dialog box with that information. This dialog could be
disabled by a setting.
John
On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 08:06:13AM -0000, Michael Whapples wrote:
> May be take a step away from the technical how it is done but rather what
> the user may expect from the options.
>
> With what you propose I would expect that all formats I can open in the
> open dialog I would be able to save in the normal save way, opening and
> saving should be transparent. By saying open and save should be
> transparent, I mean BrailleBlaster might use only one format internally,
> however I should not be aware of it as a user as going through the open and
> save cycle should mean the file does not differ in how it appears. If in
> the open and save cycle the file gets altered in the conversion,
> simplified, mangled or anything else which makes it look different, then it
> has not been transparent.
>
> If one has a separate import option, the user becomes aware that they are
> loading from a non-native format and that conversion issues might exist and
> then they don't complain when there are small alterations from the
> conversion process (the software behaved as they expected).
>
> Also if a user can only import or export a given file type but not both,
> then import and export options may be worth while as it alerts the user to
> the fact they may not be able to go through the full open/save cycle with
> that format.
>
> There are other uses for import, for example bringing in from an external
> source (eg. eclipse allows one to bring a project from a directory outside
> the workspace). It is not this type of import we are discussing.
>
> Michael Whapples
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John J. Boyer
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 2:10 AM
> To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [brailleblaster] Dropping the import item on the file menu
>
> I think that importing different document types will be largely
> automatic. The internal format of the BrailleBlaster word processor is
> DAISY ZedAI. (However, right now it just accepts any xml document,
> because liblouisutdml can handle most of the common varieties.) If it
> determines that a document is not ZedAI it will call the
> ImprotersManager in the importers subpackage. This will determine the
> file type and use an appropriate converter, probably a DAISY script.
> Unless someone comes up with a good reason to keep the import item I
> will drop it.
>
> In a similar way, SaveAs will eventually call the ExprotersManager in
> the exporters subpackage. This will pop up a dialog box similar to that
> in MSWord, then use a conversion script.
>
> John
>
> --
> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> Developing software for people with disabilities
>
>
--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities
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