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This is why I am watching Lyx with such interest. I believe that a writing tool such as this one could be very beneficial in freeing writers from the many problems to which you allude...most of which are the creatures of unrestrained choice in "word processors" and/or layout programs.
If we can create an authoring tool into which a stylesheet can be loaded, then at any point in the process a writer would have a defined and limited choice of "formatting" or markup...and all would validate at that position.
Far too many times I have been tasked with updating docs that others have created, each containing hundreds of format overrides. While I am not a "slave to fashion" as it were, there are many times I turned the air fairly blue at the thought of these previous "technical writers" who had the tools and the foolishness to have made such a mess.
I suppose that advocating *less* choice for writers is not likely to win many friends on this list--but if I were tasked to create another doc department, if given my "druthers" I'd set up a fairly simple tag structure and then have one person tasked with transforming the entire publication to the final output.
(Come to think of it...perhaps the best injunction would be to "Leave the font fondling to them as knows how!")
David
-----Original Message from Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca-----
<<What do you think the rewards of switching are to the average
writer?>>
That's the "complete disaster" part. The average writer (office
workers, research scientists, engineers, etc. rather than technical
writers) can't use even the simple style features that already exist.
If constrained by a DTD or even by simple format validation, most would
come up with even more horrific things to do with styles* than they
already do rather than trying to learn the new features.
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