can you see the present? -- august 31st

[Bowerbird at aol.com]

alan said:

>    I think the definition of such a section, for similar reasons 

>    (such metadata would only be considered in certain contexts

>    such as publishing or CMS extensions), was a motivation 

>    for the metadata discussion.


i don't disagree with you.   it was.   especially on a general level.

i merely wanted to specify a couple things, and do it concretely:

1.   factors generally consigned to the c.s.s. file (such as the font,
fontsize, leading, and so on) should be thought of as "metadata".

2.   the "metadata" should be included _within_ the text per se.
(this includes the specifications for _all_ of the output formats,
so -- just as one "for instance" -- metadata for the .pdf output
should be present in the body of the text of the .html output.)

3.   a spotlight on the release of a _markdown_ file as "master",
with specific output generation left in the hands of end-users,
either to the author's specifications, or customized to their own.

i don't think other people are saying these same things, at least
not unless i am reading them incorrectly, which is a possibility...

***

on the "markdown-based writing tools" front, august was a bit of
a disappointment, based on the massive developments from july.

"markdown composer" still has not yet appeared, probably because
fletcher had to get a business put into place to administer the app.
making money is such an administrative hassle.   but still, hopefully
the app will be released soon, and will find an audience eager for it.

meanwhile, "marked" finally was updated recently (and then again),
with a big number of improvements.   from my personal standpoint,
it is still lacking on the points i consider to be the most important...
but since i'm just an observer, rather than a user, it doesn't matter
what i think, not very much anyway...   the program has once again
moved into the top-50 on the overall paid chart, so it's doing well.
at this point, the glow-of-discovery happiness has faded away and
the i-find-i've-grown-dependent-on-this-tool plateau has not yet
come into focus for most users, so it's a grind-it-out middle stage.

-bowerbird
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