[tei-council] rendition, rend, and style

[John A. Walsh]

Hi all,

I'm supposed to write up my thoughts on proposed changes to  
<rendition> and @rend, including the possible addition of an @style  
attribute.

The current P5 guidelines state that @rend "indicates how the element  
in question was rendered or presented in the source text."  But my  
sense is that in practice @rend is used both to indicate how an  
element was rendered in the source text and/or how it should be  
rendered in a display environment such as a Web browser or printed  
output.

The addition of @style could be used to distinguish between rendering  
in the source text (@rend) and rendering in an output format  
(@style). *OR* the addition of @style could be used to provided the  
@class/@style functionality of HTML.  @rend (like @class) could refer  
to predefined style classes, which could be defined in the  
<rendition> element of the TEI Header.  @style could be used to embed  
style information directly in an element.

If we simply want to distinguish between source rendering and output  
rendering with the addition of an @style attribute, then my task is  
easy.

If on the other hand we want to provide the @class/@style  
functionality of HTML, the task is more difficult and would involve  
prescribing or recommending practice that is not common at the  
moment, and would also likely involve changes to the <rendition>  
element and perhaps a new element in <encodingDesc> where folks could  
explain their implementation. For instance, users may define their  
styles using CSS, XSL-FO, rendition ladders, or some other mechanism,  
and this will need to be explained in <encodingDesc>.

I believe we touched on all these various distinctions in Berlin, so  
I would like members of the council to weigh in on which way to go  
with this.  Please select A. or B. (or a new letter and proposal of  
your own invention):

A. @rend/@style should distinguish between source rendering and  
output rendering.

B. @rend/@style should distinguish between HTML-like @class  
functionality and HTML-like @style functionality.

Incidentally, if we go with B. and style classes are defined in  
<rendition> elements of the TEI Header, then we could add an  
attribute to <rendition> that indicates whether the "target" of this  
rendition "class" is the source text or the output format.  The  
@style attribute would remain ambiguous in terms of source/output,  
but this ambiguity could be addressed and clarified in the  
<encodingDesc>.

Once I hear back from others on the Council, I'll proceed with a more  
formal document on this topic.

John
--
| John A. Walsh
| Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science
| Indiana University, 1320 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405
| www: <http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/jawalsh/>
| Voice:812-856-0707 Fax:812-856-2062 <mailto:jawalsh at indiana.edu>