Re: DOCBOOK: New element for Step alternatives?

[Sabine Ocker - Sun Microsystems <Sabine dot Ocker at Sun dot COM>]

Paul-
I'm not sure if our discussions during yesterday's teleconference clarified
this a bit...but for our writers, Steps are sequential, and imply that
the action is to be carried out in a certain order, but the concept of 
a Branch is that it would imply a choice...either one or the other 
(Or, alternatively, a choice from multiple options).
	
	What about the above step 1 makes it not just consist of
	two steps where the second one consists of two steps?
	
	I mean, suppose I changed the words to read as follows:
	
	1. How to get the Volume Manager running.
	
	      * Pour yourself a cup of coffee.
	      
              * Start the Volume Manager running:

                a. Log in as root.

                b. Type /etc/init.d/volmgt start.
	
	Certainly that would just be steps within steps.  So the only
	difference appears to be that your example has the word "If"
	in it, but I'm not sure I see the motivation yet for that 
	requiring a fairly thorough change of markup.

I don't know if my response to Dave Pawson as well as the additional 
examples provide a better context for you, but your example isn't quite
what I had in mind-- as the "fork" in the action path is determined
by whether the Volume Manager is or isn't running.

1. Check if the Volume Manager is running.

   * If it is, Pour yourself a cup of coffee, and procede to Step 2.
  
   * If it isn't, start the Volume Manager by doing the following:

        a. Log in as root.

        b. Type /etc/init.d/volmgt start.
	
2. Here is the next thing in both instances...

So, you wouldn't get yourself a cup of coffee then log in as root...
you would do either one OR the other. (^:

In this case, the word "if" is significant, as it indicates that the user
should select one action or the other. This is why Sun writers are requesting
a new element Branch, one which is semantically unambiguous about indicating
"choice." 	

Thanks Paul,
Sabine-