Hi Bryan,
The problem with Syntext is that it actually *adds* spaces by itself in order to try to pretty-print the saved file. That's just silly.
Following Rodolfo's advice I've installed XXE and it seems to handle spaces properly. It does wrap the saved file, but do that in no-significant places (between attributes or where there are already spaces).
It also handles XInclude, not as seamlessly as Syntext (it doesn't allow in-place editing), but it's good enough for our use.
I'll keep working with it and report if I run in any significant trouble.
Thanks,
-yves
