Units Markup and DocBook

["Rowland, Larry" <larry.rowland@hp.com>]

Hello All,

I just saw the announcement from OASIS that a new TC is forming to deal
with a units markup language.  I would like to suggest that we track
the new TC (presuming it successfully forms).  I know a lot of the
hardware documents we produce here at HP have tables of specifications
that are full of units, and it might make sense to have a module for
DocBook that incorporates the units schema for the people who need it.
I know we are constantly training new authors on capitalization of
units and when to use various measures.  Having a markup that can 
bind directly to the representation would at solve the capitalization
and move to a more semantic representation.

The proposal that was circulated suggests it be included in MathML, but
it may make sense to import it directly in DocBook, rather than having
to incorporate it via another import.

This is a new proposal, so it is unlikely to come out in time for the
5.0 release, but it would really be nice to be aware enough of it to
provide examples of how to work with it as soon as it is practical to
use it.

Regards,
Larry

=======================================================================
[ Larry Rowland             | If you want to build a ship, don't drum ]
[ ATCL                      | up the men to gather the wood, divide   ]
[ Hewlett-Packard           | the work, and give orders. Instead,     ]
[ 3404 East Harmony Road    | teach them to yearn for the vast and    ]
[ Fort Collins, CO  80528   | endless sea. - Antoine de Saint Exupery ]
[ Phone: 970/898-2280       +-----------------------------------------]
[ FAX:   970/898-2188   E-Mail:larry.rowland@.hp.com                  ]
=======================================================================