xml-dev - Re: XML DTD Creation

["Christopher R. Maden" <crism@yomu.com>]

On 16-05-2000, 12:38:43, John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com> wrote 
regarding Re: XML DTD Creation:
> Separate first-name and last-name elements are not good 
internationalization,
> because some people don't have identifiable first names and last 
names,
> or if they do, they may not mean what you expect; e.g. Hungarian, 
Japanese,
> and Chinese names have the family name first.

> It's probably better to use "cname" (common name) and "sname" (surname 
or
> sortable name) elements, where sname is typically last name and cname 
is
> typically the whole name in normal order.  That way
> <cname>John Cowan</cname><sname>Cowan</sname> works
> well, but so does <cname>Murata Makoto</cname><sname>Murata</sname>.
> The minor redundancy is well worth it.

What I've found works best is treating names as mixed content.  Mark 
up the interesting bits and put them in natural order.

<name><given>John</given> <family>Cowan</family></name>
<name><family>Murata</family> <given>Makoto</given></name>
<name><given>J.</given> <middle>Walter</middle> <family>Winchell</family> 
<suffix>III</suffix></name>

You can pull out the interesting bits, but formatting is a simple matter 
of ignoring the markup (or maybe bolding the <family> or whatever).  
Processing for bibliographic style also becomes possible; if the family 
name is first, leave it alone, otherwise pull it to the front and add a 
comma, etc.  For "little" name parts, like "von" or "van", in countries 
where they're ignored for sorting, you can handle that too with this method.

-Chris
-- 
Christopher R. Maden, Solutions Architect
Yomu: <URL:http://www.yomu.com/>
One Embarcadero Center, Ste. 2405
San Francisco, CA 94111




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