[tei-council] the "key" attribute

[Sebastian Rahtz]

Matthew James Driscoll wrote:
> It would be helpful if I had a clearer idea of the difference between key,
> ana and target (and ref), all of which seem to do similar, but subtly
> different, things. It's the "subtly different" bit that gets me.
>
> key "provides a means of locating a full definition for the entity being
> named such as a database record key or a URI" ]
>   
no, scrub that "or a URI" bit. It can't work.
> ana "indicates one or more elements containing interpretations of the
> element on which the ana attribute appears" 
>
> target "specifies the destination of the reference by supplying one or more
> URI References"
>
> ref "points to a description of the character or glyph intended" 
>   
these are three different semantics for the same action,
pointing at something by an explicit route
("http://www.example.com/person#OF08").Using the
data.key method points at things by an implicit route
("you know what I mean by HOF08")
> Anybody want to try to explain to me wherein the subtle difference lies?
>   

whether you want explicit routing to the resource
by means of a URI, or just a system-specific token
which will help you find it.

-- 
Sebastian Rahtz      
Information Manager, Oxford University Computing Services
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431