Structured
writing, structured search
From a user's point of view, XPath query strings are
pretty darned geeky. I'm hopeless with them myself unless I have
examples in front of me. I find that having a list of examples
available in the context of my own live data, and synchronizing it
to an input box in which examples can be modified, leads me to
discover and record more useful patterns. A subtler thing happens
too. As you're writing the XHTML, the search possibilities begin to
guide your choices. [Full story at O'Reilly
Network]
I always think that my latest invention is the coolest one ever, so
you should take this with a grain of salt, but I can't stop
thinking about the implications of this one. First, because of the
cross-browser, cross-OS angle introduced by Mozilla. Second,
because it strikes me that XPath really could be packaged up for
use by civilians (i.e., non-geeks). Third, because the availability
of structured search -- during the writing process -- can have a
profound effect on how (and why) we structure what we write.
... [via
Jon's
Radio]