[tei-council] rendition, rend, and style

[Daniel O'Donnell]

I like option a) @rend=input document, @style=output document with no
guideline constraints on language used to describe them.

However, I can easily see that somebody might want to use CSS as a style
shorthand for @style and maybe even @rend, and that in such cases this
should be machine checkable. Perhaps an optional reference in the header
to the language used on the attributes if applicable? I.e. something
that would have text/css and maybe xslt-fo as a valid attribute.

-dan

On Wed, 2007-05-09 at 00:39 -0400, John A. Walsh wrote:
> 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>
> 
> 
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-- 
Daniel Paul O'Donnell, PhD
Department Chair and Associate Professor of English
Director, Digital Medievalist Project http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/
Chair, Text Encoding Initiative http://www.tei-c.org/

Department of English
University of Lethbridge
Lethbridge AB T1K 3M4
Vox +1 403 329-2377
Fax +1 403 382-7191
Email: daniel.odonnell at uleth.ca
WWW: http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/