- From: Murray Maloney <murray@muzmo.com>
- Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:35:03 -0400
- To: public-html@w3.org
Very well written. Thank you. +1 At 12:02 PM 4/2/2007 -0500, Gregory J. Rosmaita wrote: >PRECIS: proposed, that the Q element use the "src" attribute to point >to a target document, and redefine the "cite" attribute of Q to >provide human-comprehensible bibliographic information; this would >bring Q's attribute set in harmony with the use of the "src" element >as a actionable target and the redefinition of the "cite" attribute >to provide a human-readable citation, in harmony with the CITE >element. > >========================================= >PROPOSED ATTRIBUTE SET FOR THE Q ELEMENT: >========================================= > >a) reuse the SRC attribute in the same manner as it is used elsewhere >in the HTML/XHTML spec - as a pointer to a specific target; > >b) redefine the CITE attribute to bring it in line with the >conventional semantic meaning of citation, which is to say, >provenance, >author, edition/iteration, etc. > >here are 2 quick examples (NB: the URIs are fake): > >EXAMPLE 1: ><Q src="http://www.archives.gov/docs/constitution.html#a1" >cite="The Constitution of the United States, Article 1" > >Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, >or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom >of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to >assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of >grievances.</Q> > > >EXAMPLE 2: > ><P> >Perhaps Mencken's most familiar -- and most often misquoted and >misattributed -- aphorism is: <em class="air-quote">No one ever went >broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.</em> >What Mencken actually wrote, is far more subtle, and yet even more >cutting as social criticism: <Q >src="http://www.menken.org/works/complete3.html#27" >cite="The Complete Works of H.L. Menken: Volume 3; Tinkle, Ivana, >editor; (New York, Library of American Literature: 1998), page 27" > >No one in this world, so far as I know -- and I have researched the >records for years, and employed agents to help me -- has ever lost >money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the >plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.</Q> ></P> > >Note that in the second example, i have used the EM element to >demarcate the false quote, allowing me to use CSS to mark the >misquote with quotation marks, as it is not actually the text being >quoted, but a common and widespread corruption of the actual quote. > >this is how the print convention of encasing a word or idiomatic >expression in quotes can -- and i believe SHOULD -- be handled, by >using EM to mark the quoted word, and CSS to provide the emphasis >-- (or, if you prefer, air-) quotes. Quotation marks are also >employed to denote euphemism and slash or ironic intent, as in the >headline: > >Kane Found in Love Nest with "Dancer" > >thus, the Q element makes a clear distinction that what's being >dealt with is an actual quotation -- which makes the Q element both >a logical AND a semantically meaningful element. as for the use of >quotes for emphasis or to denote irony or sarcasm, since these are >simply manifestations of emphasising a discrete string of text, >they should properly be marked as EM, and styled so as to produce >open and close quotation marks around the emphasized word or >phrase. > >the Q element is more than merely a textual marker which replaces >the character entity (" or ") or actual quotation marks >-- it is an element which can provide REAL context for the quoted >text thanks to its attributes -- attributes that vastly contribute >to the comprehensibility of related documents, entire web sites, >hypertext or XML presentations, and online curricula: > >the promise of hypertext has always been that it would revolutionize >the way individuals -- especially individuals who cannot process >printed material -- read documents. the Q element does this by >allowing the author to provide extra information below the surface >-- such as hyperlinks -- which the reader can choose to take >advantage of, or ignore, at his or her choice. > >the SRC attribute of the Q element will allow an author to specify >a URI for the source of the quote without cluttering up the page >-- enhancing both the readability of the document containing the Q >element and the ease of comprehension of the document by placing it >in exact context by hyperlinking directly to the location in the >original document from which the quote was taken... > >moreover, quotation marks aren't always used strictly for >quotations -- for example, a word or phrase may be encased in >quotation marks to emphasize a certain word or phrase, as in: > >Finally, everything was back to "normal". > >quotes are also employed to denote emphasis, euphemism, and slash >or ironic intent, as illuminated in the headline example given >above. > >thus, the Q element makes clear that what's being dealt with is >an actual quotation - which makes the Q element both a logical >AND a semantically meaningful element.... > >an author might want to style the quoted text as italic or bold, >or in different colors, by a font change, etc, instead of using >quotation marks. of course, this should and would be controlled >by use of CSS, but styling alone -- especially if embedded in a >SPAN element -- cannot convey to the user a vital item of >important information: namely, that this segment of text encased >in the Q element is an actual quotation; therefore, use of the Q >element fits the needs and wants of both the author and the user: >the author can style the contents of a Q in whatever way pleases >him or fits in with the "look and feel" (there's another false >quotation) of the resource, while the vital information that what >is contained in the Q container it is an actual quotation is >never lost. > >part of my insistence on using, parsing, and rendering Q is that >i am a screen reader user who would like the Q element to trigger >a change in the reading voice's characteristics, such as a change >in pitch or a change of voice (from male to female, male to deep >voiced male, or whatever the user prefers), just as it provides >expansions when it encounters the ABBR and slash or ACRONYM >element, and how some screen-readers know to switch language >libraries on the fly in response to the "lang" attrribute. but >all of this is dependent upon use of the Q element, rather than >guessing whether content contained in " is semantically a >quote, or an ironic or emphatic use of quotes (the written >equivalent of quote air quotes quote or my own habit of using >quote unquote inline) > >i also think that overlapping user sets would benefit greatly >from the ability to have one's user agent or one's assistive >technology, a list of quotes in a given document, as it would >be of interest to some users to have the URI of the quotation >displayed in the list of quotes' status line, so that they >are aware to where activating the quote (as opposed to just >moving to it) will lead them, and so that the end user can >make an informed judgement on the veracity slash quality of >resources cited in the document and thus assess the quality >of the document, itself, as a reliable resource. > >gregory. >------------------------------------------------------------- >SELF-EVIDENT, adj. Evident to one's self and to nobody else. > Ambrose Beirce, _The Devil's Dictionary_ >------------------------------------------------------------- >Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net > http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html >-------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Monday, 2 April 2007 17:45:47 UTC