WinFold: a folding editor for collaborative writing

Rapid technological advances in computer communications have brought about many effective software systems which enable users to carry out productive work collaboratively over long distances. In the collaborative work environment consisting of a large software development team, users often need to access the same file at the same time. A collaborative folding editor would offer many advantages over the conventional collaborative editing system. These include the effective use of screen space and simultaneous access to the same document without the use of a revision/version control system. This paper describes the design and the implementation of a folding editor, WinFold, which can be used to support collaborative writing. A pilot study, which was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of this editor, is also presented. Further enhancements of the system are proposed.