[tei-council] some formatting thoughts -- reference documentation

[Sebastian Rahtz]

Syd Bauman wrote:
> there is no reason whatsoever to arbitrarily not
> provide useful information if it happens not to be available until,
> say, December.
>   
I see what you mean; but I have to say, I take the contrary view, viz 
that the
formatted HTML Guidelines are part of the release; when someone
downloads the packages on 1st December or 1st February,
I expect (DV) the HTML they install locally to look
the same as TEI web site.

I suggest that when release 1.0 is done, you can start work
on a 1.1 branch, which includes changes to guidelines.xsl which
makes the HTML, and make it available under its own terms.
> Again, formatting is pretty disjoint from content.
I agree, it is not the same thing. But, to me, its part of the
package.
> .... making changes to the formatting does not
> have untoward effects on users. 
>   
Agreed; so this is not covered by the Birnbaum Accord,
and its open for the Council (or possibly Board) to  play
it how they like. I'm interested to hear whether others
have a view on this?

as ever, my views are those of the hard-line project
manager; we should set deadlines for tasks, and stick to them.
> I'm wondering, though, what happens on a browser that does not
> support javascript? 
it degrades to useable, if not lovely, SFAICT.
> (I tried in one browser, and I got alphabetical
> followed by by module. Which seems fine.) But both in this case and
> in the Datatypes & Macros case, the two sections (alphabetical & by
> module) need to have headings.
>   
sorry, confused. do you mean we need headings only for the non-JS case,
or always?
>  Since
> having a significant bug in the delivery on 01 Nov would be a very
> bad thing, I think we want to lay off all but crucial bug fixes for,
> say, 1 week before & after 01 Nov.
>   
with the best will in the world, I am willing to bet something changes
in the P5/ tree on 31st October......:-} but yes,  we should definitely
have implemented any formatting decisions by 21st. 

-- 
Sebastian Rahtz      

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