[osis-core] Users Manual Bug List - 42. Remove div type (chapter)

[Chris Little]

Kirk Lowery wrote:
> Chris Little wrote:
> 
>>> 42. Remove div type (chapter)
>>>
>>> Section 9: I would suggest removing the "ok-ness" of <div 
>>> type="chapter"/> as this makes an implementer's life harder. Use a 
>>> single method of doing things an more people get it right. Submitted 
>>> by: Jim Schaad, jimsch@nwlink.com
>>>
>>> Resolution:
>>
>>
>>
>> <div type="chapter"> is not equivalent to <chapter>.  <chapter> refers 
>> to chapters in a Bible.  <div type="chapter"> refers to divisions in 
>> any type of work that are termed chapters.  (e.g. title IV, chapter 5, 
>> section ii, paragraph 4 of the municipal code.)  The same is true of 
>> <div type="paragraph"> vs. <p>.

Okay, let me clarify, according to my own understanding.  Using 
<chapter> and <verse> indicates that the work you're encoding has a 
book/chapter/verse hierarchy.  (This shouldn't be confused with the 
decision of whether you're using BCV vs. BSP as your documents primary 
hierarchy.)  It's essentially for a reference system.

So where I say "in a Bible" above, what I really mean is "in biblical 
literature and other literature with similar hierarchies".

> Uh, I may be coming in late on this discussion: if <chapter> only refers 
> to biblical chapters, then why isn't the element name something like 
> "bibleChapter" or some variation. Simply <chapter> -- without 
> documentation -- does not communicate what the element is.

We don't want to use <bibleChapter> because that would be a change, and 
we don't like changes. :)  I don't think it occurred to anyone at the 
time, and it may be that there were other events in the evolution of 
that element's name that I'm not remembering.

> That raises another question in my mind: is <verse> only for verses of 
> the biblical text? Or can I use it to mark up a Syriac psalm or poem?

You could certainly use <chapter> & <verse> in things like Ethiopic 
Enoch or the Psalms of Solomon.  If you're looking at a Syriac psalm as 
having similarity to Biblical psalms, you might want to use <chapter> 
and <verse> there too.  I would not use <verse> for marking verses 
within the sonnets of Shakespeare, however.  There I would use <lg> and <l>.

--Chris