RE: [docbook-tc] proposal: add relatedlink element to topic

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

I am somewhat concerned about moving these from inline to an info 
element.  I have found that having keywords in the info element 
frequently leads to them being out of date as information is 
modified and the keywords associated with them are not updated.  
If a paragraph moves from one topic to another, the keywords 
frequently get left behind in the info element.  If it is deleted, 
they do not always get deleted with it.  I realize this is a 
problem with the authoring process, but it is exacerbated by 
separating the tag representing the cross reference from the
content it describes.  Unless an info element is attached to
each paragraph, it becomes harder to assure that the cross
references represented by the relatedlink follows content as it
is altered, moved, or removed.

I guess it is a usability issue.  I find that indexterms are
much more robust than keywords in our content because they are
embedded in the content they represent rather than remotely
located from it.  Adjacency is a strong principal in interface
design and general human factors.

Regards,
Larry Rowland 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Stayton [mailto:bobs@sagehill.net] 
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 11:05 AM
To: Scott Hudson; Norman Walsh
Cc: docbook-tc@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [docbook-tc] proposal: add relatedlink element to topic

Putting relatedlink elements in info is fine with me.  Should we create a 
relatedlinks wrapper for them, or allow a random scattering of relatedlink 
elements in info?

Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises
bobs@sagehill.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Hudson" <scott.hudson@flatironssolutions.com>
To: "Norman Walsh" <ndw@nwalsh.com>
Cc: <docbook-tc@lists.oasis-open.org>
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 8:03 AM
Subject: Re: [docbook-tc] proposal: add relatedlink element to topic


>I like Norm's suggestion. Related links "feels" more like metadata than 
>inline content, and as the documentation states: "Many of the elements in 
>this wrapper may be used in presentation..."
>
> Best regards,
>
> --Scott
>
> Scott Hudson
> Senior XML Architect
> +1 (303) 542-2146  |  Office
> +1 (720) 663-SCOT [7268]  |  Gvoice
> Scott.Hudson@flatironssolutions.com
> http://www.flatironssolutions.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Norman Walsh wrote:
>> "Bob Stayton" <bobs@sagehill.net> writes:
>>
>>> A relatedlink element provides a solution to this problem. Instead of
>>> an explicit cross reference, an author can insert a relatedlink
>>> element at any point in a topic element like an indexterm.
>>>
>>
>> Index terms have to be located inline because their location
>> identifies a target for a cross-reference. In the case of relatedlink,
>> it sounds like the relationship is from (some parent of) the
>> relatedlink element to some other place.
>>
>> If a relatedlink element appears in a para in a section in a chapter
>> in a part in a book in a set, what determines the granularity of the
>> link source?
>>
>> It sounds to me like perhaps relatedlink should be allowed inside an
>> info wrapper and not in inline content.
>>
>>
>>> Allowing relatedlink elements to appear inline permits them to be kept
>>> close to the text they are related to. Then if the text is deleted, so
>>> is the relatedlink. If the text is modified, then the relatedlink can
>>> be evaluated by the author to see if it is still relevant.
>>>
>>
>> Can you give a concrete example of a relatedlink element?
>>
>>                                         Be seeing you,
>>                                           norm
>>
>>
>
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