final decision (?!?) on <screen> et al (was Re: screenshot instructions)

[Karsten Wade]

On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 09:49, Dave Pawson wrote:
> >From docbook tdg.
> 
> computeroutput: Inline markup.
> 
> screen. A block level element 
> This element is displayed “verbatim”; whitespace and linebreaks within
> this element are significant.
> 
> userinput: 
> Note that UserInput is not a verbatim environment, but an inline.
> 
> Does that help explain some of the oddities?

Yay!  A reference that trumps and settles the matter ... smooth move,
Dave.
 
Wish you had brought up that point earlier ... <grin/> ... I'd forgotten
about those distinctions.

My feeling about DocBook usage is, follow what Norm says in "DocBook:
The Definitive Guide".  That represents the best practices from all
over.  Only break those rules for very good reasons.

When Dashamir suggested we might as well write our own DTD, that was a
warning bell.  We definitely do not want to stray from the DocBook DTD
and usage.  We have enough to maintain and worry about.

The rules in our own Doc Guide (&DOCG;) are then changed to:

* <screen/> is all by itself without <computeroutput> or <userinput> or
<command>, although you can use semantically appropriate tags inside
such as <replaceable/>.

* <computeroutput> and <userinput> are *inline* containers, meaning they
are properly used in the flow of content inside of a <para/>.

I also forgot about <screenshot> ... going to have to experiment with
that one. :)

- Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE, Tech Writer
a lemon is just a melon in disguise
http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
gpg fingerprint: 2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115  5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41