RE: [docbook-apps] Re: DocBook 5.x - the difference between mediaobject and inlinemediaobject

[Cavicchio_Rob@emc.com]

Ron Catterall [mailto:ron@catterall.net] wrote:

> Jirka wrote:
> 
> >But some people prefer to use nested blocks, for example if you have 
> >let say enumeration presented as list inside one logical piece of 
> >text, [you] it is more precise to markup it as:
> >
> ><para>
> >   ...
> >   <itemizedlist>
> >     ...
> >   </itemizedlist>
> >   ...
> ></para>
> >
> >then as
> >
> ><para>
> >   ...
> ></para>
> ><itemizedlist>
> >   ...
> ></itemizedlist>
> ><para>
> >   ...
> ></para>
> >
> 
> To my mind the first (embedded block) is the only logical way to 
> express the idea of a paragraph containing a list.  The second is 
> both inelegant and logically confused, the list is not in the para 
> where it belongs, and a logical para is artificially broken up into 
> three separate units - an obvious kludge.


This is a good point, and like many I've probably been "corrupted" by
HTML structures before learning XML. In HTML I would put the <p> outside
the list and wrap the whole thing inside a <div> to logically tie it
together.


You can also turn this around and claim that rather than allowing a
paragraph to include a list, you should allow a list to include a
paragraph. Then the structure would be something like this:

<itemizedlist>
	<para></para>
	<listitem></listitem>
	...
</itemizedlist>

This seems to me more in keeping with how titles work--in fact, an
<itemizedlist> can contain a <title>. I would argue that a <para>
containing a list with a title would be a pretty strange construct:

<para>
	<itemizedlist>
		<title></title>
		<listitem></listitem>
		...
	</itemizedlist>
</para>

If the paragraph introduces the list, then the title should apply to the
entire section and introduce the paragraph, not the list itself.


But to me it still comes back to the question of whether it is
appropriate to have certain DocBook elements be "inherently" block or
inline elements. This discussion assumes that <itemizedlist> is always a
block element, but I might look at this:

<para>
	The options you can choose from are
	<itemizedlist>
		<listitem>first item</listitem>
		<listitem>second item</listitem>
		<listitem>third item</listitem>
	</itemizedlist>
</para>

and transform it to this output:

"The options you can choose from are: first item, second item, and third
item."


Yes, I realize that there is a <simplelist> element for this purpose,
but again, the distinction between <simplelist> and <itemizedlist> seems
to made for the purpose of presentation rather than semantics, and I
question the wisdom of making this distinction in the DocBook markup at
all. I think presentation is the job of the transform.


*************************
Rob Cavicchio
Principal Technical Writer
EMC Captiva
EMC Corporation
10145 Pacific Heights Boulevard, 6th Floor
San Diego, CA 92121-4234

P: (858) 320-1208
F: (858) 320-1010
E: Cavicchio_Rob@emc.com

The opinions expressed in this message are my own and should in no way
be interpreted to reflect the opinions of EMC.