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Subject: DTD Formatting: Element Alignment
ELEMENT alignment: 1) It's personal I know, Eliot, and I can live with your format. It is more important that we be consistent than that we agree. But in a large and complicated content model (20-50 elements) the every line format is, IMO, very hard to read. When I need to read your models, I use a graphical tool. 2) Quickly, now, is foo on the same level as bar or as the group: <!ELEMENT foo ((bar | baz)+, foo*) > <!ELEMENT bar ((foo | baz)+, woo*) > See what I mean? 2) The models above may not be too different from: <!ELEMENT foo ( (bar | baz)+, foo*) > <!ELEMENT bar ( (foo | baz)+, woo*) > But I know which I'd rather read, especially if there are multiple element declarations and I want to eyeball the result as a comparison. Further, I can scan element names quickly, even if the models are long. 3) The "as much as seems reasonable on a line" also lets you edit for readability and do things like the example below. Admittedly, this is a TERRIBLE content model used for teaching and not for real, but you get the idea: ( (title, ( (chptitle, para*)+ | (sectitle, para*, (chptitle, para*)+ )+ ) )*, index ) versus ((title, ((chptitle, para*)+ | (sectitle, para*, (chptitle, para*)+)+))*, index) One can read either, but... --debbie -- ====================================================================== Deborah Aleyne Lapeyre mailto:dalapeyre@mulberrytech.com Mulberry Technologies, Inc. http://www.mulberrytech.com 17 West Jefferson Street Direct Phone: 301/315-9633 Suite 207 Phone: 301/315-9631 Rockville, MD 20850 Fax: 301/315-8285 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in XML and SGML ======================================================================
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