[tei-council] namespaces and modifications

[Lou Burnard]

James Cummings wrote:
> Lou Burnard wrote:
>> The consensus seems to be that if  I add a completely new element, it 
>> makes sense to define it as belonging to a new namespace. Presumably 
>> the same also applies if I define a new attribute for an existing 
>> element, so I could get by with just putting the new attribute in a 
>> non-TEI namespace.  But hold on,  what if I get the new attribute by 
>> adding the element to an existing attribute class which it wasn't in 
>> before? Now I have to distinguish the @type I get from att.typed in a 
>> kosher manner from the exact same attribute which I got by modification!
>>
>> It seems to me that the only sane thing to do is to say that my newly 
>> modified element is in a new namespace, and leave it at that. So if 
>> there is a TEI:foo, and a my:foo, and even the bits of my:foo which 
>> are unchanged from the TEI scheme are still in a different namespace 
>> as soon as I tweak any part of it.
>
> Hrmmm.  If I've added a brand new element, my:foo, I've done so in my 
> own namespace, of course.  But if I add it to class att.typed, it 
> joins that club and gets the TEI element tei:typed, right?  So, 
> playing devil's advocate, why should that 
eh? do you mean it gets the TEI attribute tei:type?

> attribute be in any other namespace than the TEI? As long as it is 
> still a TEI attribute, it should be in the TEI namespace, right?  Just 
> like we use xml:id and xml:lang.
>

well, yes that was the point of my query. It's just that my head started 
to hurt when I started thinking about how to document the rules here.

> <tei:div xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" my:newAtt="blort">
>
> <my:foo xmlns:my="http://my-new-namespace.info/" tei:type="wibble"/>
>
> </tei:div>
>
>
> I'm happy to be argued down about this, I just want to make sure we 
> are clear on the reasons why.  So explain it to me again like I'm even 
> more ignorant than I am....

just about to check in a revised version of MD which maybe will help...


>
> -James
>