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Re: re step container for procedure
Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com> writes:
> [...]
> If we had instead changed procedure for consistency, then all these
> lists would have been:
>
> optional title
> one or more items
>
> I don't think this would satisfy Micheal Smith's use case, since it
> would not easily allow reusing the steps by reference to their
> container without simultaneously reusing the title.
Actually, that is what I meant, though I've done a very poor job of
saying it. I wrote "group of steps" when to be precise I should have
said "group of steps with an optional title and titleabbrev".
To clarify, what I'm suggesting is that we:
* return the *lists-- Orderedlist etc.-- to their pre-RFE 144
content model: ((title, titleabbrev?)?, listitem+)
* create a coordinate content model: ((title, titleabbrev?)?, step+)
and call it Stepset or whatever.
> I'm opposed to adding a 'stepset' wrapper around the steps (and
> by extension a 'listitems' wrapper around the list items):
I didn't mean to suggest creating a new "listitems" wrapper. What I
meant and should have been more clear about is what I've said above:
*lists in their pre-RFE 144 state, something coordinate for steps.
> 1. If required, it would introduce a new level of wrapper in every
> procedure, even when there was no need for most authors in most cases.
>
> 2. If optional, it would allow procedures to contain either a set
> of steps or a stepset and having two ways to do the same thing
> is bad.
>
> 3. If stepset is allowed to have a title, then you'd have titles
> at two different levels in the procedure and that strikes me as
> awkward.
I can see that Stepset will create additional complexity, but the only
alternatives seem to be:
X. keep Procedure as is-- realizing that although "Step" is a
semantically explicit name for the equivalent of a Listitem in an
Orderedlist, the content model for containing Step is not
coordinate with the *list content models for containing Listitem
Y. forget about creating Stepset and restrict the content model of
Procedure to ((title, titleabbrev?)?, step+)
Z. make the content models for all *lists coordinate with the
Procedure content model: e.g. with
<!ELEMENT orderedlist ((%formalobject.title.content;)?,
(%component.mix;)*, listitem+)>
X preserves an inconsistency and doesn't allow for programmatic
storage/reuse of groups of steps (with optional title/titleabbrev).
Y I like fine, but I suspect many other people don't agree.
Z I pray no one thinks is a good idea.
--Mike Smith
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