Re: Is a list of one item still a list?

hi Daniel,

I wanted to make the same comments as Martin.  Especially in the 
requirements doc, where i believe we should be describing usage rather 
than writing style guides.  Even as part of a separate document, I think 
we are in danger of overconstraining the rules, when we should allow the 
content author to exercise their judgement in this matter.

I can also certainly think of situations where data is supplied from a 
database or incoming stream under headings which may result in a single 
item appearing under a heading, at least temporarily.  I don't think we 
need to worry too much about that.

But basically, my thinking is that these are stylistic guidelines that 
content authors should decide for themselves or agree amongst themselves 
in in-house style guides, etc.

cheers,
ri





On 22/05/2018 13:36, Daniel Yacob wrote:
> Alemnew & Martin,
> 
> Thank you both for the input.  I agree a list of one item generally 
> doesn't make sense, it occurs to me now that this would be an author's 
> intent when being sarcastic, for example:
> 
> Exhaustive List of Candidates for President:
>    * AA AA
> 
> 
> A "Sarcastic List" would be a special case -one my primary school 
> teacher would not have appreciated, I'm sure.
> 
> 
>     However, I'd like to mention two points:
> 
>     First, it seems to me that the rule that lists should have more than
>     one
>     item is something that is somewhat above the layer of typography and
>     text layout that this and other task forces are working on.
> 
> 
> 
> Point taken.  I do think this group is a useful place to discuss and 
> capture typography and layout rules for Ethiopic that may occur in a 
> slightly higher layer.  In this case at the level that composition 
> happens. A word processor or editor application could apply a list 
> length rule to warn the user that they may be making an error. A 
> document auditor / validator application that checked structure could 
> likewise utilize such a rule. Perhaps this leads to a companion 
> specification or a special appendix for validation recommendations.
> 
> Once composed, a layout engine should not throw an error or change 
> layout when a single item list is found.
> 
> 
>     Second, I think there is occasionally a use for a list with only one
>     item, to keep the layout of parallel structures aligned. As an example,
>     assume a lists of officials to be elected, where most offices have more
>     than one candidate, but some office may have only one candidate. Then
>     you might get something like
> 
>     * Candidates for President
>         - AA AA
>         - BB BB
>     * Candidates for Secretary
>         - CC CC
>     * Candidates for Treasurer
>         - DD DD
>         - EE EE
>         - FF FF
> 
>     There's only one candidate for secretary, so we end up with a list with
>     only one item, but we don't want to change that to inline text because
>     that would ruin the structure of the layout.
> 
> 
> 
> Here we have a list of lists, or at least a sequence of lists which 
> might be a special rule that a validator could apply.
> 
> 
> BTW, Alemnew and others.  Questions for discussion posted here have a 
> correspondence in the ELReq Github Issues section, for this question see 
> the issue:
> 
> https://github.com/w3c/elreq/issues/113
> 
> Feel free to share thoughts and examples there as well.  We can add 
> summary and conclusion of the email discussion there to close out the issue.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> -Daniel
> 
> 
>     Regards,   Martin.
> 
>     On 2018/05/22 18:23, Alemnew Sheferaw Asrese wrote:
>      > Hi,
>      >
>      > I haven't seen any listing that has only one item. I believe
>     Amharic has
>      > the same rule as English for lists.
>      >
>      > And it doesn't make sense to have a list for just an item. Right?
>      >
>      > --Alemnew
>      >
>      > On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 12:42 AM, Daniel Yacob <yacob@geez.org
>     <mailto:yacob@geez.org>> wrote:
>      >
>      >> Greetings All,
>      >>
>      >> I was recently reviewing a document and was reminded of a rule I
>     learned
>      >> in English class when creating a list or sublist.  That is, an
>     ordered list
>      >> (alphabetic, or numeric) must have more than one item.  We were
>     not allowed
>      >> to create a list with an item "A." without there also being (at
>     least) a
>      >> "B." , or a sublist with roman numeral "i" unless there was also
>     an "ii".
>      >>
>      >> If we had only one item to discuss, we would have to make it
>     part of the
>      >> preceding sentence.  I assume the same rule applied for bullet
>     lists as
>      >> well.
>      >>
>      >> Does this rule apply for Amharic writing and in other Ethiopic
>     writing
>      >> practices?  That is, can a list in Amharic contain only one item?
>      >>
>      >> thanks,
>      >>
>      >> -Daniel
>

Received on Tuesday, 22 May 2018 14:28:38 UTC