Re: [dita-help] Context-Sensitivity

[Deborah_Pickett@moldflow.com]

Alan Houser <arh@groupwellesley.com> wrote on
28/03/2008 02:11:12 AM:
> I must admit that I'm still getting my head around these issues, but
> wanted to raise a possibility.
> 
> Assuming that "hook" == "unique identifier", we
already have a 
> persistent ID in each topic, and can specify an ID value on virtually
> every DITA element. Is there a reason that we would not leverage these
> IDs as hooks?

I see two problems with that:

1. You might want two (or two hundred) different contexts
to point to the same topic. You'd have to invent elements just to attach
an ID to, which is what you'd be doing anyway if you were to use <resourceid>
or some other element that is customarily used for hooks.

2. The id attribute is used for other purposes too
(such as the target for an <xref>).  How would you distinguish
IDs-as-hooks from IDs-not-as-hooks?  If it's by the content of the
attribute, then turning an existing non-hook ID into a hook-ID would mean
changing the attribute value, which would break other links to that element.

Obviously there are technical solutions to both of
those problems, but my opinion is that those solutions are more effort
than having a dedicated element.

-- 
Deborah Pickett
Information Architect, Moldflow Pty Ltd, Melbourne
Deborah_Pickett@moldflow.com