Re: [dita] Incompatible specification language for the lines element

[Eliot Kimber <ekimber@contrext.com>]

Note that the behavior assigned to "lines" appears to correspond to the CSS whitespace value "pre-line":

pre-line
    This value directs user agents to collapse sequences of white space. Lines are broken at preserved newline characters, and as necessary to fill line boxes.

The "as necessary to fill line boxes" suggests that lines can be broken to prevent overflow, but that's not necessarily inconsistent with the semantic of <lines>.

Might be more appropriate to remove the @xml:space attribute and then define the intended behavior in terms of the CSS whitespace "pre-line" value, if we want to keep the current definition.

On the other hand, the current definition of <lines> would preclude setting E. E. Cummings poetry using only whitespace for indention:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47244/buffalo-bill-s


Cheers,

E.

--
Eliot Kimber
http://contrext.com
 

ïOn 8/24/19, 7:49 AM, "Kristen James Eberlein" <dita@lists.oasis-open.org on behalf of kris@eberleinconsulting.com> wrote:

    
      
        
      
      
        Especially given the following sentence in the XML spec (emphasis
          added):
        "On the other hand,
            "significant" white space that should be preserved in the
            delivered version is common, for example in poetry and
            source code."
        Best,
          Kris
          
          Kristen James Eberlein
          Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
          Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
          www.eberleinconsulting.com <http://www.eberleinconsulting.com>
          +1 919 622-1501; kriseberlein (skype)
          
        
        On 8/23/2019 5:44 PM, Robert D Anderson
          wrote:
        
        
          
          Thanks to a customer defect report, I just
              noticed some seemingly incompatible rules in our spec around
              the <lines> element:
            http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/dita/v1.3/errata02/os/complete/part1-base/langRef/base/lines.html
            
            The first sentence is pretty clear:
            > The <lines>
              element contains text where line breaks are significant but
              white space is not. 
            
            However -- we also set a fixed attribute of
              xml:space="preserve", which ensures processors don't normalize
              those line breaks. Stating that other white space is not
              significant seems incompatible with the definition of
              xml:space in the XML specification itself:
            > The value "default" signals that
              applications' default white-space processing modes are
              acceptable for this element; the value "preserve"
                indicates the intent that applications preserve all the
                white space. 
            https://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#sec-white-space
            
            Based on that definition, and the fact that we
              don't want to break any global XML rules, I think all white
              space in the <lines> element has to be significant. The
              broader XML behavior for that attribute is definitely the
              behavior that my customers expected (thus the defect report).
            
            This seems like something to address as we make
              progress on DITA 2.0, but I wanted to raise it to the broader
              TC first.
            
            Cheers -
            
            
              
                
                  Robert D. Anderson
                      DITA-OT <https://dita-ot.org/> lead and Co-editor DITA 1.3
                      specification
                      Marketing Services Center
                
              
            
            
              
                
                  
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