Re: [jats-list] BITS: Is there a canonical way to group multiple appendices and a glossary under a single 'Appendix' heading?

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gerrit,

I agree with Tommie, but would add a further question. I agree your
valid alternative is clumsy, but not because of the book-part. Rather,
it is the fact that this part has no 'body' element, but a 'back'
element, that makes me uneasy.

I.e. you have book-back/book-part/back where I'd expect
book/back/book-part/body.

The fact that the book-part appears inside book-back is in my view
sufficient to indicate its status as back matter. The glossary and two
appendixes it contains surely constitute the body of the book-part in
the back matter, not its back matter, don't they?

Cheers, Wendell

Wendell Piez | http://www.wendellpiez.com
XML | XSLT | electronic publishing
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On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 12:04 AM, Tommie Usdin <btusdin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Your "Valid alternative" is encoding the structure you describe. If, and
this is a big IF, you are comfortable with the structure of the book, why
would you not be comfortable with encoding the nesting as it appears in the
book? You say that there is an Appendix which contains a Glossary and several
titled structures at the same level as the glossary (which in BITS are tagged
as <app>s) and after that Appendix there is an Index.
>
> I think <book-part> in this use is serving exactly the function it was
designed for: it is a structure in the book that can have any designation
appropriate: chapter, volume, part, appendix, lesson, tutorial, and anything
else an author or editor can dream up. Why shouldn't there be generic
structures in the backs of books as well as in their bodies?
>
> -- Tommie
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 2, 2013, at 6:32 PM, "Imsieke, Gerrit, le-tex"
<gerrit.imsieke@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> There's a book whose backmatter consists of a glossary, two appendices and
and index. In the printed version, the glossary and the appendices are
contained in a book-part-like structure with the heading 'Appendix'. The index
heading is intended to be on the same level as this 'Appendix' heading. The
individual appendices below the 'Appendix' heading have their own distinct
headings (let's call them 'Author Biographies' and 'Handouts').
>>
>> What is the canonical BITS way to encode this structure? I'll present a
valid yet clumsy and an invalid variant.
>>
>> Valid alternative:
>>
>>  <book-back>
>>    <book-part dtd-version="0.2">
>>      <book-part-meta>
>>        <title-group>
>>          <title>Appendix</title>
>>        </title-group>
>>      </book-part-meta>
>>      <back>
>>        <glossary>
>>          <title>Glossary</title>
>>        </glossary>
>>        <app>
>>          <title>Handouts</title>
>>        </app>
>>        <app>
>>          <title>Author Bios</title>
>>        </app>
>>      </back>
>>    </book-part>
>>    <index>
>>      <title-group>
>>        <title>Index</title>
>>      </title-group>
>>    </index>
>>  </book-back>
>>
>> I don't like that there's a book-part that could, in principle, host all
kind of stuff that doesn't belong into a book's backmatter (front, body).
>>
>> Or the use of a book-part in a book-back could lead you to think that the
content now go into the book-part's body because you're already in the
backmatter. Until you find out that an appendix or glossary can't be in the
body.
>>
>> Because I was kind of loath to use a book-part for the collective
'Appendix', I thought of using app-group, like this:
>>
>>  <book-back>
>>    <app-group>
>>      <title>Appendix</title>
>>      <glossary>
>>        <title>Glossary</title>
>>      </glossary>
>>      <app>
>>        <title>Author Bios</title>
>>      </app>
>>    </app-group>
>>    <index>
>>      <title-group>
>>        <title>Index</title>
>>      </title-group>
>>    </index>
>>  </book-back>
>>
>> This looks more lightweight and appropriate in my view, except that
glossary isnbt allowed in an app-group (only app elements are allowed
there).
>>
>> In principle, one could extract the glossary from the Appendix, leaving the
two appendices proper under the Appendix heading, in an app-group. But if the
glossary was moved before the appendices, there would be no 'Appendix' heading
before the glossary which probably isn't acceptable for the author and/or the
publisher. If the glossary were moved past the appendices, the order in the
electronic pulication (EPUB derived from BITS) would deviate from what's been
printed, and this also seems unacceptable to some of the parties involved.
>>
>> So is there a third way to encode this in a natural way, or do you consider
the book-part way (first alternative) as a natural way already? Or do you also
think (as I do) that there should be a generic container to group backmatter
components? It could be app-group, but maybe with a book-part-meta instead of
a mere title element.
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> Gerrit
>>
>
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