| Here's another consistency question:
In our preferred documentation style, we insert the Table of Contents
after the "frontmatter" of a book, but *before* the Preface. To do
that, we must either:
o Put the <CONTENTS_FILE> tag in the profile. This implies that
the preface must exist in a chapter by itself and have <FRONT_MATTER>
and <ENDFRONT_MATTER> tags in it. (This gives us two files with
the frontmatter tags in them.)
o Bury the <CONTENTS_FILE> tag in the middle of the frontmatter file
(before the <PREFACE> tag), and thus undermine the purpose of the
profile, which is to maintain a record of the book's structure.
In the production of our books, we will probably opt for the former
solution so that the book's structure is clear. However, that brings
up the question (analogous to the question posed in Note #73) of what
is the purpose of the frontmatter tags? Is the preface a subelement
of the frontmatter? (In our case, it is not.) Should the preface be
considered an element (like an appendix or a glossary) and *not*
require surrounding <FRONT_MATTER> and <ENDFRONT_MATTER> tags?
-hkc
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| Also, it is not uncommon in the publishing world to float a PREFACE or FORWARD.
All the front matter elements (TOC, preface, forward, etc.) need to be flotable,
i.e. have a capability to change their order and/or set their page numbers.
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re: 202
you are correct that there are inconsistencies. I would have preferred
to require terminators for everything, including chapters, since
that will make the SDML-SGML translation process smoother. SGML
is much more strict about specifying the structure of a document
and what tags are valid within which other tags.
As it is, we have what we have for V1.0. There are implementation
requirements in the front matter that require terminating tags for
these elements (font changes, for instance, and changes to positioning
of running heads and feet) and in appendix and glossary material
for some doctypes. I expect that as we work on the SGML doctype
definitions we'll have an opportunity to clarify the relationships.
patti
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