TITLE: "Either Take Control, or Cede it to the Software"
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 12, 2013  3:08 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Mandy Brown tells editors and "content creators" to
<A HREF="http://aworkinglibrary.com/library/archives/markup/">
   take control of their work</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 It's time content people of all stripes recognized the WYSIWYG
 editor for what it really is: not a convenient shortcut, but a
 dangerous obstacle placed between you and the actual content.
 Because content on the web is going to be marked up one way or
 another: you either take control of it or you cede it to the
 software, but you can't avoid it.  WYSIWYG editors are fine
 for amateurs, but if you are an editor, or copywriter, or
 journalist, or any number of the kinds of people who work with
 content on the web, you cannot afford to be an amateur.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Pros can sling a little code, too.

Brown's essay reminded me of a blog entry I was discussing with
a colleague recently, Andrew Hayes's
<A HREF="http://www.afhayes.com/4/post/2012/12/why-learn-syntax.html">
   Why Learn Syntax?</A>
Hayes tells statisticians that they, too, should take control
of their data, by learning the scripting language of the
statistical packages they use.  Code is a record of an analysis,
which allows it to be re-run and shared with others.  Learning
to write code also hones one's analytical skills and opens the
door to features not available through the GUI.

These articles speak to two very different audiences, but the
message is the same.  Don't just be a user of someone else's
tools and be limited to their vision.  Learn to write a little
code and take back the power to create.
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