[thelist] RE: [ - Examples of Importing XML into Netscape or Mozilla? - ] - Michael

[Michael Kimsal]

Peter Thoenen wrote:

>I submit :) ... 99% of my web application development
>is in database apps.  Not a huge client side  XML guy.
> (Other than what I need to know to create client
>frontends).  I will admit though that I am glad you
>took the time to put me in my place :) instead of
>blindy saying "because thats just the way it is" .
>Hats off to you for that.  Only reason I went
>defensive was in my experience, I haven't ever seen
>ANY browser affecting how i develop my applications
>(other than visual niceties) and felt Mozilla was
>unduley (?sp) being slandering for no apparent reason,
>not really a stab at you personally.
>
>
>

I don't think I took it personally.  :)

One thing that annoys me a lot with Mozilla too is the lack of a web-based
control to do HTML editing.  The IE DHTML component for HTML editing,
while not perfect, is pretty much a staple for most web-based CMS today,
and yet no one in the Mozilla community seems to have even heard of it.
This is based on numerous IRC exchanges with various Mozilla contributors.

The Java-applet versions aren't really any better, because they convert any
shred of HTML into a full blown document.  (HEAD/BODY tags, etc)
when all we want is something to interactively render the HTML snippets we
pass to it.  This is to allow users to edit the middle of a page which will
go into a template we provide.

We spent the better part of 3 weeks wrestling with Mozilla to get it to
approximate this functionality.  While it *mostly* works now, it sucks
big time
in comparison (interface-wise) and requires many low-level system file
changes
to even allow it to operate (somethinig about security rights on parts
of the mozilla
system).  Conversations with Mozilla people indicate it'll probably stay
that way,
making it utterly useless for 99% of end users who might otherwise be able
to use it.  No one is going to close the browser, hand-edit some weird file
(in a different place on every installation) and restart just to do
something
they can do in IE in 2 seconds with no installs.

Mozilla developers are *really* missing the boat in terms of what type
of experience they could provide to the community.  Instead of innovating,
they are mired in debates about how to implement standards (if you have
to argue about how to implement something, it's not a standard).

Anyway, cheers back. :0

MK