RE: [dita] Re: Discuss list processing expectations

["Grosso, Paul" <pgrosso@ptc.com>]

We discussed this during the telcon, but I'll make a
comment herein regardless.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gershon L Joseph [Yahoo] [mailto:gljoseph@yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, 2008 April 08 10:43
> To: Robert D Anderson; DITA TC List
> Subject: Re: [dita] Re: Discuss list processing expectations

> I'm still against using the same element in both block and 
> inlinecontexts. If DITA provided an <inline-ul> (or whatever) 
> for usein the example Paul gave I'd be OK with it. I still 
> feel that blockelements should be used only in block 
> contexts, and inline elements ininline contexts. Paul's 
> example would then be marked up as follows:
> 
> <p>In order to install Acme Pro Plus Plus, your system must
> meet the following requirements:
> <inline-ul>
>   <li>Pentium 4 CPU or later</li>
>    <li>1 GB RAM or more</li>
>    <li>At least 350 MB free disk space</li>
>  </inline-ul>
>  unless you are running the Limited version of the product.
>  </p>

Perhaps we are using different terminology, but to me what
Gershon shows above and what I was talking about is not an
inline list (where by "inline", I'm using the XSL FO meaning
of something that continues without necessarily causes a line
break), but a (block) list nested within a (block) paragraph.

So we are not talking about using the same element in both
block and inline contexts, we are just talking about allowing
the list element both as a sibling of paragraphs as well as
a child of paragraphs.

That is very similar to, say, TeX's concept of display math:

\par Here is the intro to some display equation such as
  $$x = y$$
which would be composed as a block within a block.

DocBook also allows lists as children of paragraphs.  There
are times when such markup is more correct (both semantically
and in terms of getting the correct composed results) than
having to close the paragraph, put in the list, and then open
a new paragraph whose content is really the second half of
the paragraph preceding the list.

paul