Re: [docbook-apps] Question about <formalpara>

[Daniel Carrera <daniel.carrera@zmsl.com>]

Thomas Schraitle wrote:
> I think, it should be different from a sect{1,2,3,4}/title so nobody is 
> confused by a formalpara/title.

Yes. But I'm not sure how to make it different visually. I will set it 
up so that it doesn't appear on the Table of Contents or (if you are 
using OpenOffice) the Navigator. Just like a user would expect. But 
besides that, I don't know how else to differentiate it from a section 
title. A section 4 title already has the same font size as the text 
body, so a formalpara title will have to look the same.

> From a typographical point of view, I would avoid borders as much as 
> possible. They make sense, for example, for admonition boxes to get the 
> attention from the reader. And maybe in headers or footers. But I don't 
> think it would be a good idea to use it for this element. Think of a 
> document that have to use lots of formalpara you end up with lots of line 
> and this is a nightmare to read.

I see. Yes, that makes sense. No border then.

> Indentation /can/ work but it is also a typographical minefield. Can you 
> safely detect a formalpara/title if you have nested lists and other text 
> that is indented too? Indentation can lead to a very disturbed left 
> margin so the reader might be confused.

Hmm... do you have any suggestions? I could make the title italic 
instead of bold (I make section titles bold). That would differentiate 
it without using indentation. Does that sound better to you?

Of course, I'm using OpenDocument styles. So all these things can be 
changed. But I want to pick reasonable defaults.

> Which stylesheets did you use? There are two: for XSLT 1 and for XSLT 2. 
> The latter is still in development and will probably replace the existing 
> some day, but at the moment you should stick with the XSLT 1.
> Your XML above looks like it is a DocBook 5 file. Try it with a DocBook 
> 4.x instance and use the XSLT 1 stylesheets instead.

DocBook 5. I don't want to try to support DocBook 4, too much work. But 
I guess I can use it to get visual cues.

Cheers,
Daniel.
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