Opinion Wanted: Require use of <div> in RNG schemas?

[Eliot Kimber <ekimber@rsicms.com>]

RelaxNG includes the element <div>, which, like HTML and DITA 1.3,
provides a generic wrapper you can put around anything.

In the context of DITA modules, <div> could be used to formalize the
“sections” that are required by the coding requirements. For example, you
could have something like this:

<grammar>
 <div>
  <a:documentation>
<!-- ============================================================= -->
 <!--                       ROOT ELEMENT DECLARATION                -->
 <!-- ============================================================= -->
    </a:documentation>
  …
 </div>
    <a:documentation>
<!-- ============================================================= -->
<!--                         MODULE INCLUSIONS                     -->
<!-- ============================================================= -->
    </a:documentation>

 …

</grammar>

This approach would make the RNG files more formally structured and easier
to work with in XML editors.

The cost is a bit more verbosity required—we have established a principle
of defining non-optional rules for the coding patterns in order to make it
more likely that declaration modules can be read and generated by tools
and just to reduce options people have to think about or understand. So
the spec need to say “you MUST use <div>” rather than “you MAY use div”.

My general inclination as an XML head is that more structure is better,
but I wanted to see if anyone felt that use of <div> in this way would be
inappropriate or otherwise impose effort without sufficient value.

I will observe that the DocBook 5.x RNG grammars, which are hand-authored,
use <div>, so there is a relevant precedent.

E.
-- 
Eliot Kimber
Senior Solutions Architect
"Bringing Strategy, Content, and Technology Together"
Main: 512.554.9368
www.reallysi.com
www.rsuitecms.com