M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
>>> Well now ... I agree with Dr. Dobbs in this case. Give me WYSIWYG or
>>> give me HTML, but don't make me learn a *third* language to mark up text!
>> Didn't you mean to say "don't make me learn a <b>third</b> language to
>> mark up text" ?
>>
>> :-)
>>
>> Sorry... I just couldn't help myself :-)
>>
>>
> Uh ... yeah. Dang VT100 muscle memory. :)
> 

PWNED! *cough*

Besides. On which language to program a computer are you now? Or did you 
stop counting around twenty? Nothing wrong with an alternate approach if 
it's better. And Textile sure is less (sometimes much less) of a 
wristkiller than raw HTML. I wonder which smart mind came up with the 
angle bracket idea, and all the slashes aren't nice on the pinkies either.

I sometimes prefer Markdown or Mediawiki syntax, since Textile headings 
are ghastly. But Textile's quick CSS modifiers for margins and paragraph 
indentation are very neat, and on the whole it's a bit richer.

But Dr. Dobbs'  point -is- valid, exposing someone to that by default, 
heck, without a WYSIWYG alternative is just vile - even if it's 
technically a very good alternative to HTML, it's an annoying We Know 
What's Good For You Better Than You Do attitude to your users / 
customers. (Even if I resent the DOS prompt / floppy disk oh-so-witty 
wisecrack - you're a journalist, just review the damn software without 
having to invent smartass ways to emphasise its suckiness when you run 
out of factual observations and leave the dry sarcasm to people that are 
actually funny.)

David Vallner