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Subject: More thoughts on 'you can'
Greetings, Another aspect of the 'you can' discussion is whether it is being used to state a requirement. Note that in section 1.2 Notation, we limit key words to those found in RFC 2119. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt "Within this specification, the key words "must", "must not", "required", "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "recommended", "may", and "optional" are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] if they appear in uppercase bold letters." Another relevant document on practice is "QA Framework: Specification Guidelines," http://www.w3.org/TR/qaframe-spec/, see section C.2 in particular. Note that the "QA Framework: Specification Guidelines" does have one example of 'you can' but it is not stating a requirement. It is directing the reader to additional information, not stating a requirement. For example, in 2.8, Page Styles and Layouts, fifth paragraph, the first sentence reads: "In text and spreadsheet documents, you can assign a master page to paragraph and table styles using a style:master-page-name attribute." If that is stating a requirement of the specification, then it is not using the terms specified in 1.2 Notation. Restated using 1.2 Notation: "In text and spreadsheet documents, a master page MAY be assigned to paragraph and table styles. Master page assignments to paragraph or table styles are made using the style:master-page-name attribute." Another source to consider would be to post the question with a couple of examples to more experienced standards writers. I suspect Jon Bosak has participated in writing more standards than I have read so he or others with his experience might be good sources of advice on this type of style question. Hope everyone is having a great day! Patrick -- Patrick Durusau Director of Research and Development Society of Biblical Literature Patrick.Durusau@sbl-site.org Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!
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