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Subject: RE: [dita] Another request for steps-informal example


Yes, I have used <choices> as you describe, and it does fulfill the same function as <substeps-unordered> would. But <substeps-unordered> as a name has the benefit of parallelism with <steps-unordered>, hence making it a little easier to understand. Minor quibble...
 
A bigger issue for me is that <choices> is not allowed in the <substep> element, where it would be just as useful as it is in the <step> element.
 
Tim.


From: Michael Priestley [mailto:mpriestl@ca.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 3:44 PM
To: tgrantham@timgrantham.com
Cc: dita@lists.oasis-open.org; 'Fogel, Stephen J'
Subject: RE: [dita] Another request for steps-informal example


The content model for <steps-informal> is section-like, so it can contain a generic <ol> list with no substructures, or a set of paragraphs, or...

It's deliberately loose (ie informal) to provide an alternative for people who found the prescriptive structures of <steps> or <steps-unordered> too... er... prescriptive :-)

If you need bulleted/non-sequential substeps, there's the <choices> element (for cases where the steps are not numbered because they are alternatives to each other), or the backup is <info> with a contained <ul>. I'm not sure that there's a strong case for <substeps-unordered> given the alternatives already available.

Michael Priestley, Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM)
Lead IBM DITA Architect
mpriestl@ca.ibm.com
http://dita.xml.org/blog/25



"Tim Grantham" <tgrantham@timgrantham.com>

02/02/2009 03:35 PM
Please respond to
<tgrantham@timgrantham.com>

To
"'Fogel, Stephen J'" <STEVE.FOGEL@oracle.com>, <dita@lists.oasis-open.org>
cc
Subject
RE: [dita] Another request for steps-informal example





I've always used <steps-unordered> for single-step procedures. How would
<steps-informal> differ from <steps-unordered>?

Also, why is there no <substeps-unordered> element to match the
<steps-unordered> element? This would be useful to create bulleted items on
output, since <substeps> always gets rendered as numbered items.

Tim.


-----Original Message-----
From: Fogel, Stephen J [mailto:STEVE.FOGEL@oracle.com]
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 3:11 PM
To: Robert D Anderson; dita
Subject: RE: [dita] Another request for steps-informal example

Robert....

What is the philosophy of the group on how to document a task that has only
one step?

For example, a task topic entitled "Taking a Tablespace Offline" might look
like this:

==============
Taking a Tablespace Offline

Taking a tablespace offline temporarily prevents access to the data stored
in it. You may want to take a tablespace offline when....

To take a tablespace offline, submit the following statemment:

ALTER TABLESPACE tablespace_name OFFLINE;

See also: xxxx

====================

This is really a procedure with one step. Obviously, an ordered list with
one step would look odd, to say the least. How is something like this
normally handled in DITA? Might this be a candidate for this new markup?

Thx

Steve







Oracle
Steve Fogel | Information Architect, Oracle Database | 650.506.4914 Oracle
Server Technologies Information Development 500 Oracle Parkway | M/S 4op1126
| Redwood Shores, CA 94065

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert D Anderson [mailto:robander@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:23 AM
To: dita
Subject: [dita] Another request for steps-informal example


Hello everybody,

Early drafts of DITA 1.2 added a <process> element to task for describing
procedural task information that does not fit into <steps>. I asked a couple
of times for an example to include in the language specification, but didn't
get one.

Late last year we changed the name from <process> to <steps-informal>, but I
still don't have an example.

Can anybody on the list provide an example for the <steps-informal> element?
The original proposal does not explain the element beyond what I've stated
above, and does not give an example. I know a number of people on the TC
feel this element is critical, so I would appreciate it if one of those
people can provide an example to include in the Language Specification...

Thanks,

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit


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