RE: [dita] Proposal for Consideration: Default Behavior for List Items

How about something like this:

The presence or absence of an initial paragraph element within a list item (<li>Item text</li> vs. <li>Item text</li>) SHOULD, but is NOT REQUIRED to, produce similar styling on output.

I think this is what Eliot was saying, but this version is a bit shorter, written in a positive rather than a negative sense, and may address Paul's concern in that it makes it clear that users may choose to adopt different styling if they wish.

-Jeff

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Grosso, Paul [mailto:pgrosso@ptc.com]

> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 5:31 PM

> To: dita@lists.oasis-open.org

> Subject: RE: [dita] Proposal for Consideration: Default Behavior for List

> Items

> Why are we getting into details of styling in a semantic

> markup language standard? DITA shouldn't dictate to a user

> how their stylesheet has to work. If we put wording such

> as Eliot's into the DITA standard, then we are telling

> users that they non-compliant if they write a stylesheet

> that styles <li>Item text</li> and <li>Item text</li>

> differently, and I know Eliot is not a fan of having a user's

> control over their own data usurped by someone else.

> The DITA standard includes DTDs and XSDs, but it does

> not include stylesheets, and it shouldn't. So why should

> the spec include styling restrictions? If a user wants

> to write a stylesheet, they should be allowed to have it

> do anything they want. If implementors want to provide

> stylesheets as part of their DITA offering, then what those

> stylesheets do in terms of such things as paragraphs within

> list items is a quality of implementation issue.

> paul

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: Eliot Kimber [mailto:ekimber@reallysi.com]

> > Sent: Monday, 2008 April 14 16:11

> > To: dita@lists.oasis-open.org

> > Subject: [dita] Proposal for Consideration: Default Behavior

> > for List Items

> >

> > Per the action out of last week's meeting, I submit the following

> > proposal for approval by the TC:

> >

> > "By default, the rendering of list items is not affected the

> > presence or

> > absence of an initial paragraph element such that the markup <li>Item

> > text</li> and <li>Item text</li> should be visually

> > indistinguishable, all other variables being the same."

> >

> > The <ol> and <ul> elements both provide a "compact=" attribute that

> > indicates the desire for more or less space between list items.

> >

> > We also discussed the issue that IBM's pre-OASIS markup

> > design for step

> > lists had rules for determining if a given list of steps should be

> > compact or not lead to not providing compact= on <steps> but

> > that steps=

> > should provide compact= (because that particular behavior was too

> > specific and there is no way to override it in the current markup

> > design). It was agreed that adding compact= to <steps> would

> > not create

> > any backward compatibility problems.

> >

> > Cheers,

> >

> > Eliot

> >

> > --

> > Eliot Kimber

> > Senior Solutions Architect

> > "Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together"

> > Main: 610.631.6770

> > www.reallysi.com

> > www.rsuitecms.com

> >

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