Re: [jats-list] Element for wrapping a group of xref elements

[Alf Eaton <eaton.alf@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 21 February 2013 12:39, Randall, Laura (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [E]
<laura.randall@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>However, downstream renderers of the XML aren't necessarily going to
>>know what to do with the empty <xref> in order to display the inline
>>citations.
>
> Renderers don't know what to do with ANYTHING until you tell them.
>
> I'm wondering if maybe your request for the new element isn't a request to
fill a need in the XML, but a request to make *your* downstream processing
easier.
>
> This isn't to say that I don't think that's a consideration, because we all
know it is. But most of the things that exist in the Tag Suite now that fall
under processing conveniences are things that have legacy--like italic and
bold instead of just emphasis. So is this *really* a gap in the XML that needs
to be filled, or is it just something that would really make your life
easier?

There isn't necessarily a gap in the DTD - as I described, using
multiple, space-separated identifiers in the @rid attribute (along
with only having text in the <xref> element when it must be shown
inline) serves its purpose for my needs.

The problem is that this isn't the way that people have been marking
up inline citations until now, so downstream clients (by which I mean
any renderers or parsers of the XML, now or in the future) won't know
that this is what the markup means. So, as you point out, if the usage
of the markup changes, the clients need to know how to process it.
That's why I proposed the two options in my previous email: one is to
let clients know what this markup means, by defining it in the
specification; the other is to add a new element with new semantics,
which clients would then be told how to process.

There's also a third option that I forgot to mention before, which
would be to use the "multiple rid" approach, keep the text in all the
xref elements, and add something like @specific-use="text-citation" to
denote inline citations where the text should always be preserved (the
"as shown by <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref-4"
specific-use="text-citation">Malenka, 1988</xref>" example). Maybe
this is the way to go, as it has the least effect on existing clients,
who can keep on displaying the citation text as it's written.

Basically, this is what I'm trying to address:

PROBLEM: need to be able to mark citations in JATS XML without
defining the way they are rendered.
SOLUTION THAT'S COMPATIBLE WITH EXISTING CLIENTS/PROCESSORS: ?

Alf