RE: RE: Why should a tech writer learn XML?

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

John I don't understand why your making the associations you are. You're 
arguing for the sake of argument it would seem.

The use of drop downs, menus, buttons, windows as building blocks and how 
they are assembled are two very separate issues.

If you redesign the standard functionality of a dropdown list to behave in 
some new manner for example you may arrive at a desirable alternative. 
However you are far likelier to confuse your user with non-standard 
widgets and drive them away from your product (look at the many complaints 
about FrameMaker for example). If your hand coded drop down works exactly 
the same as the available standard one, you've only wasted your employers 
time and project budget.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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