Re: Can't find <open-quote>, <close-quote> characters in spec

lee@sq.com
Wed, 2 Nov 94 12:55:31 EST

dsr:
> |> For HTML 3.0, I am proposing a new quote element <q>...</q>
[...]
marc:
> Putting on the SGML purist yarmulke for a sec, isn't this a clear case for
> the use of existing entities rather than creating new elements? Do quotes
> really convey enough structural representation to warrant inclusion as
> elements or are they just commonly used special characters that require
> nesting rules
> (is that structure enough) for proper presentation?

I want to be able to search on things that are in quotes.
I want quoted text italicised.

These are pragmatic reasons for making them tags.

A theoretical reason: The text within <q>...</q> has a different Quality
than that without: it is marked as being spoken, or as being cited, that is,
it originated elsewhere. This is structure.

Furthermore, consider
`We are very close', said Peter, `to the Taj Mahal'.

A search for
find "close to the Taj Mahal" within a quotation
would fail.

Now consider
<Q>We are very close <INTER>said Peter</INTER> to the Taj Mahal</Q>

where INTER represents an interpolation or interjaculatin, a piece of
text that is inserted in another, but does not break it.
This tag (as TEI found) is actually fairly hard to use, but it's clear
that software could no process the above query successfully. It is also
clear that the two halves of the quote are marked as being related.
It's also clear to me that this is more subtle than most HTML users require
at the moment :-) so I do not propose <INTER> for HTML, but to help show
some of the things that are done with quotes in SGML, and why having <Q>
can be useful.

Lee

-- 
Liam Quin, Manager of Contracting, SoftQuad Inc +1 416 239 4801 lee@sq.com
HexSweeper NeWS game;OPEN LOOK+XView+mf-fonts FAQs;lq-text unix text retrieval
SoftQuad HoTMetaL: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:Web/html/hotmetal, and also doc.ic.ac.uk:
packages/WWW/ncsa/..., gatekeeper.dec.com:net/infosys/NCSA/Web/html/hotmetal/