Agreed on Robert's observations about whitespace, but also agree
with Shane that the content model is limiting for current UA
content. The fig element is a nice archetype for future models in
that it already includes a title and desc, and specializers can
use figgroup to bundle one or more msgblock or msgdiv units per
their particular UA structures.
--
Don Day
On 11/30/2016 4:22 PM, Robert D
Anderson wrote:
The TC hasn't discussed this yet, but I'll point out a couple
of things that will be part of the discussion.
The <msgph> element is specialized from the base element
<ph>. The spec doesn't mandate what to do with space in
either element. Processors are free to normalize space (or not)
when processing the element. If you're getting unwanted
newlines, this may be an issue for the processor.
For <msgblock>, that element is specialized from the base
element <pre>. To make <title> legal inside of
<msgblock>, I think we'd have to do one of the following:
A) Make titles legal inside the base element <pre>. This
is backwards compatible, but the TC has generally been wary of
adding titles to new base elements.
B) Because we're allowed to break compatibility in 2.0, we could
change the specialization base to something like <section>
that already allows titles. However, this sort of change would
have an effect on where the <msgblock> element is allowed.
(I pick section because it allows titles and plain text, but
some other element might also be possible.)
Kristen
James Eberlein ---11/30/2016 04:00:26 PM---Thanks, Shane. I'll
add this item to the TC agenda. When the TC discusses it, I
(or another voting m
From: Kristen
James Eberlein <kris@eberleinconsulting.com>
To: dita-comment@lists.oasis-open.org
Date: 11/30/2016
04:00 PM
Subject: Re:
[dita-comment] UI Messages With Titles: DITA Spec
Modernization
Thanks, Shane.
I'll add this item to the TC agenda. When the TC
discusses it, I (or another voting member of the DITA TC) will
respond on this list with information about the resolution.
Best,
Kris
Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)
On 11/30/2016 4:57 PM, Shane Taylor wrote:
The DITA spec includes both <msgph> and
<msgblock> elements for the content of software
application messages, but two aspects of these elements'
definitions seem to hark back to text-only interfaces and
don't work well for modern GUI or web-based applications.
First, both elements preserve whitespace, with
no option to treat whitespace normally. Modern UI messages
typically don't care about whitespace, so it's restrictive
and incorrect that this content model forces users to
preserve whitespace.
Second, <msgblock> does not allow a
<title>. Many modern messages include a title followed
by descriptive text.
I would love the DITA-TC to consider these two
issues for the next iteration of the spec. Both enhancements
should easily be backward-compatible.
Shane Taylor
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