I'm exploring the transclusive nature of instant outlining. This is a case where you need to paint a picture.
When I render my outline using Joshua's stuff , Les Orchard's transcluded outline is directly included, not linked. Make sense? Yes and no. It can be argued either way. We geeks are going to have infinite amounts of fun with this stuff. But let's not lose sight of the endgame. We can have the most fun when it all leads to applications that make light bulbs pop in other peoples' heads, people for whom the technology is just a tool, and a means to an end.
To this day, huge numbers of people aren't really comfortable with normal hyperlinking, never mind transclusion. Issues of scope, visibility, accessibility, labeling, persistence -- and many others -- make them fearful of experimentation. Not experimenting, they don't learn. So a huge priority for technoids who begin playing with transclusive linking is to figure out ways to make sure non-technoids can experiment safely and productively, without fear of embarrassment or error.
Not knowing the answer to "What will happen if I...?" is fun for many of us, but by no means for everybody. Some kinds of handholding that everybody will appreciate: deep undo stacks, previews before committing changes, and live version trees like the clever one in Zope.
Former URL: http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2002/03/29.html#a156