[tei-council] enriching <figure>?

[Martin Holmes]

I agree too.

I've always thought the name of <floatingText> suggests
those little boxes you get in computer manuals which have random little
tips, and usually appear in almost random positions in the margin (which
is usually pretty wide in those books). They're peripherally related to
the content in the area they appear, but their precise position doesn't
matter. They're self-contained and you don't need to read them to
understand the main text (although they might be referred to in the main
text).

I think that's different again from a "float" in the layout sense; 
that's an instruction to render something in a particular way. Both 
<figure>s and embedded texts might "float" to the left or right (or top 
or bottom), but they might not; they might take the whole page up, or 
run over several pages. If something floats, then it _doesn't_ 
"interrupt the text containing it...after which the surrounding text 
resumes"; it flows alongside it. The Guidelines description of 
<floatingText> would better describe something like <embeddedText>.

Cheers,
Martin


Elena Pierazzo wrote:
> I actually agree with you Sebastian (no, I'm far from surprised, 
> actually very pleased), both on <figure> and on <floatingText>. Not 
> sure if there is the possibility of renaming it at this stage, but I 
> wish we could.
> 
> Elena
> 
> Sebastian Rahtz wrote:
>> fwiw, I can see an argument for <figure> being syntactic sugar 
>> <floatingText type="figure">, and so I think I'd go along with 
>> Paul.
>> 
>> Though I may say that when I look at <floatingText>, I think it is 
>> misnamed - it does not float. Its beginning and end are anchored to
>>  its position in the text. One of the characteristics of a float
>> (or which tables and figures are examples) is that they are often
>> _not_ tied to precise locations in the text, and have a label
>> ("figure 33") to join them. Their position is dictated by the
>> typesetter, not the author; whereas the author completely controls
>> the <floatingText>'s location.
>> 
>> To my mind there are "<innerText>"s and there are "<float>"s, and 
>> they are not the same thing. Whether one can _tell_ when encoding a
>>  printed book whether a figure is floated or not is a moot
>> question.
>> 
>> 
>> Maybe I have done too much typesetting in my time.
>> 
>> -- Sebastian Rahtz Information Manager, Oxford University Computing
>>  Services 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431
>> 
>> Sólo le pido a Dios que el futuro no me sea indiferente
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 

-- 
Martin Holmes
University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre
(mholmes at uvic.ca)
Half-Baked Software, Inc.
(mholmes at halfbakedsoftware.com)
martin at mholmes.com