Re: DOCBOOK: Re: Missing a section element without a title

On Thu, Sep 26, 2002 at 08:33:22AM -0700, Norman Walsh wrote:
> / Yann Dirson <> was heard to say:
> | I got a user request recently, of being able to group paragraphs in a
> | logical way, but without a title.  Usual rendering would just add more
> | inter-paragraph space.
> 
> What's the significance of the grouping? Is it purely for the
> aesthetics of presentation, or is it deeper?

It surely has a connection with presentation, since what I understand
of the user's needs is some means to make less compact a sequence of
paragraphs.

After discussing with the user, I came to the conclusion that the
inter-paragraph spacing she wanted to add for this were to be located
between logical groups of paragraphs.  That would be much like
sections, but just without a title.

> | I was originally thinking about just using <simplesect> and making its
> | <title> optional.  But then we it would allow a <section> and to
> | contain both simplects with and without a title, which is probably not
> | what we want.
> 
> Section isn't allowed inside simplesect.

Hm, I messed with my fingers.  I meant: "But then it would allow a
<section> to contain both simplects with and without a title,
which is probably not what we want."

That is, I can't see how to implement that in a better way than adding
a <SectionWithoutATitle> element, which would just be the same as
<SimpleSect> but without a title, and sequences of which would be
allowed in the same contexts as sequences of simplects are.

-- 
Yann Dirson <>                 http://www.alcove.com/
Technical support manager                Responsable de l'assistance technique
Senior Free-Software Consultant          Consultant senior en Logiciels Libres
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