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


That reminds me of another reason to use <steps-informal>, which is to allow more than two levels of steps. For example, using <steps-informal>, you can have:

1. Add new oil to the engine.
  a. Pick up the container of oil 
  b. Remove the caps from the container.
      i. Lift up the outer cap.
      ii. Unscrew the inner cap.
   c. Pour the oil.
2. Check the air filter and replace or clean it. 

Using <steps> you can only have:

1. Add new oil to the engine.
  a. Pick up the container of oil 
  b. Remove the caps from the container.
  c. Pour the oil.
2. Check the air filter and replace or clean it.


Su-Laine Yeo
Interaction Design Specialist 

JustSystems Canada, Inc.
Office: 778-327-6356 
syeo@justsystems.com
http://na.justsystems.com 




From: Tim Grantham [mailto:tgrantham@timgrantham.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 9:47 AM
Cc: dita@lists.oasis-open.org
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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