User documentation
Etherpad Server
http://pad.delarbre.info/
Samples of existing pads :
http://pad.delarbre.info/4DC226pyXC
http://pad.delarbre.info/Tv5qA9gngY
http://pad.delarbre.info/IHMXXAIMpr
Existing formatting functions
While taking a tour of Etherpad's interface and making a few tests, we can see there are a few formatting options available, but they are very basic and limited. These functions are the following, with their HTML code:
Bold: <b>
Italic: <i>
Underlined: <u>
Deleted: <del>
Unordered list: <ul><li>...
Ordered list : <ol><li> ...
The main plus we would get by creating an Etherpad -> Hdoc converter was to give users several new markups for their pads, to have more formatting options. Obviously this kind of markup would not appear as expected in Etherpad (for example: Even if I type //IMPORTANT// text text text //IMPORTANT//, Etherpad is not going to change or format anything, it will just appear as plain text).
Indeed, the utility of this new formatting markup was that it could be converted in Hdoc format and then to another type of document, making it visible, and useful.
Implemented formatting functions
I implemented some formatting options which can be used in Etherpad documents and are handled by the converter:
Element | Chosen markup | Result after Perl script | Result after XSLT |
Title (level 3 here) | === text === | <h3></h3> | / |
Important Block | {$ text $} | <important></important> | <div class="emphasis"></div> |
Example Block | {- text -} | <exemple></exemple> | <div class="example "></div> |
Definition Block | {: text :} | <definition></definition> | <div class="definition"></div> |
Metadata | {# meta #} | <meta></meta> | <head> </head> |
Topic | #sujet text | <sujet></sujet> | name=”title” content=”text” |
Author | #auteur text | <auteur></auteur> | name=”author” content=”text” |
Date | #date text | <date></date> | name=”date” content=”text” |
Theme | #theme text | <theme></theme> | name=”keywords” content=”text” |
Objectives | #objectifs text | <objectifs></objectifs> | name=”description” content=”text” |
Not implemented formatting functions
Some metadata will have to be directly written into the document without formatting (as plain text), such as the type of the reunion, or its participants. This is due to the fact that there is no specific tag nor microdata to put this kind of information in Hdoc.
Also, some information I gathered by studying existing reports from the EPIN research group and their contents showed that there might be a need to add some new kinds of blocks in documents, such as authored blocks (a text block associated to a specific person), or a debate block (composed of several authored sub-blocks, creating a conversation).
Currently, this kind of content is not implemented because there would be no equivalent in Hdoc.
Authored block | {& author text &} | <auteur=”author”></auteur> | ... |
Debate block | {~ ... ~} | <debat> ... </debat> | ... |
Debate element | ~author text | <edebat auteur=”author”>text</edebat> | ... |