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Inconsistently named elements/attributes (ODF all versions)

From
Alex Brown <>
Date
2009-03-02T11:05:31+00:00
ID
Thread
Inconsistently named elements/attributes (ODF all versions)
Dear all,

In the main, the names of elements and attributes declared in the ODF
schema are full English words joined by dashes, for example:

table:search-criteria-must-apply-to-whole-cell

or

meta:non-whitespace-character-count

However, on occasion abbreviations are used in a way which is
inconsistent with this. So we have:

style:number-wrapped-paragraphs and table:number-columns-repeated

but

style:num-format and style:num-prefix

and

text:bullet-relative-size

but 

style:rel-height, style:rel-height, etc, etc.

Counts are usually denoted by the suffix "-count" in a name
(text:page-count, db:max-row-count), but not always, since we also have
draw:extrusion-number-of-line-segments (rather than
extrusion-line-segment-count).

Container elements are sometimes named with plural words, sometimes
singular ones with the suffix "-group".

Some element names have a prefix of "min-" or "max-", sometimes it's
"maximum-" or "minimum-".

Boolean indicators are named in a boggling variety of different ways:

table:is-sub-table, style:register-true, text:display (and, oh! horrid
to behold!) text:dont-balance-text-columns

(so these might be more consistently named just "sub-table", "register",
"display", and "balance-columns" -- all of which take the values "true"
or "false").

A thorough editorial pass should be made through the schema and names
reconciled harmoniously with a naming convention, which, as an aid to
all, might be usefully stated in the spec itself.

- Alex.
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