I agree with Eliot but have an even stronger feeling about how to
separate OASIS from implementation concerns. The <q> element
text is a good example:
On 2/9/2016 8:40 AM, Kristen James
Eberlein wrote:
Authors
should not add quote punctuation manually when using the <q> element.
That statement is pure specification: this point ensures that the
resulting authored content is interoperable with any DITA-based
process, whether rendition, translation, editing, or more. I would
expect this to be normative because it affects the quality of the
DITA source.
Processors
that render the <q>
element SHOULD add
appropriate styling, such as locale-specific quotation marks.
This statement however is purely implementation and has no impact on
the source itself--you could say "should make it flashing blue on a
reverse magenta background" and it would not affect the spec or
require OASIS 'SHOULD' treatment. Even HTML5 tends to say
"send the q element on through to the browser and let your
locale-dependent CSS take care of the punctuation" (although there
are issues with full stops in quotations -- .</q> vs
</q>. -- that may need explication in the spec).
But because this sentence was in the spec, it was easy for someone
to scan and to flag as requiring OASIS differentiation, which I
argue is pointless here because this is not part of the language
specification and therefore could even be relocated into a
non-normative implementation document that we've discussed before
(my preference now being something that could be maintained and
freely extended on a community wiki like dita.xml.org).
The main point here is just the consideration of "interoperable
source" as a way to sense normative from non-normative (and in this
case, potentially relocatable) discussion.
--
Don R. Day
Founding Chair, OASIS
DITA Technical Committee
LinkedIn: donrday Twitter:
@donrday
About.me: Don R. Day Skype:
don.r.day
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
--T.S. Eliot
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