While writing DITA documents, I find the attributes window very frustrating.  For example, <image> elements generally contain pixmaps of screen shots, generally larger than wanted, so every time I have to add a scale attribute and enter the scale number.

Instead of the Serna developers having to decide, for each element, which attributes to show in the pane, why not let the user record these as preferences.

Thus, if <at> scale is always being added to <image>, after I have done it for the first time, why not let me click a button to record that I always want this attribute to be displayed, potentially available.  The button could open a dialogue to allow me to specify that <at> scale is to be always available for any <image> element anywhere, or could let me specify one or more XPath absolute or wildcard expressions.  Then, if I always scale to 60 percent in <steps> but 75 percent in <section> elements, these could be separately recorded.

The attribute would not be automatically inserted into the element (but this could be made a Preference option) but would be listed (perhaps greyed out) in the attributes list with the preferred value.  Then clicking on the attribute would insert it with the default value, or the value could be edited.

The DTD can specify a list of legal values which appear as a drop-down in the attributes list.  But this is no good for attributes which, say, the documentation manager has decreed a limited range of custom values.  For example, <at> audience might have the legal values engineer, end-user, administrator at one implementer's site.  If you have a team of writers, perhaps including temporary contractors, how do you ensure that they type in only the correct values for each free-form attribute which nevertheless should only contain specific values.

In my proposed attribute-customisation dialogue, you could also specify a list of required values which would appear as a drop-down in the attributes list, just as DTD-specified alternatives do now.  This would do for a single writer but in a team the administrator could somehow deploy these legal values via some overriding mechanism.

Regards,
Hedley

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Hedley Stewart Finger
28 Regent Street   Camberwell VIC 3124   Australia
Tel. +61 3 9809 1229   Mobile +61 412 461 558,
E-mail < mailto:hfinger-6P+1Du0vV4/qSFzvm+Tz3BCuuivNXqWP@public.gmane.org>