[sword-devel] Types of notes

[Peter von Kaehne]

The OSIS manual describes a long list of possible forms notes may
take. 

We routinely throw this info away and only keep xrefs and "notes". I
think we might be able to create/present more multilayered modules if
we were able to extract more info out of the notes. The following note
types are allowed in OSIS:

 * allusion The note explains an implicit reference the text makes to another text or concept.
 * alternative The note records an alternate possible reading of the text, whether due to ambiguity in
 * translation or to manuscript variation. This type of note will almost always include an <rdg> element.
 * background The note provides background information, such as cultural norms, explanations of geographic or other information original readers would have known, and so on.
 * citation The note cites a supporting text or further explanation of some kind.
 * crossReference The note provides a cross-reference to a related passage or other text.
 * devotional The note includes information of interest for devotional reading.
 * exegesis The note discusses a relevant point of exegesis or interpretation
 * explanation The note explains implicit, ambiguous, or otherwise non-obvious aspects of the passage.
 * speaker This type is intended mainly for use in sermons and other performance texts, where the performer may wish to make notes to him or herself. For example, "tell joke here".
 * study The note provides helps for a deeper study of the passage.
 * translation The note discusses an issue of translation, such as a
   word whose meaning is unclear in the original, or a reasons for the
   translator's choice of phrasing. Bible translation projects will
   likely use this heavily, using the subtype attribute to mark the
   status of each note as resolved or unresolved, the person
   responsible for the note, and so on. 
 * variant The note records a textual variation among source
   manuscripts. This will also often include an <rdg> element

The way we pass a note to the frontend currently is by passing a
complicated URL with various info on the note. 

Among this is a single character "x" or "n", where x stands for xref
and n for the whole rest. I propose to use the many variants and pass
on different characters for each of the kind of notes in existence.
This could then be read and acted upon by frontends. 

There would be some breakage in frontends if a frontend wants to
continue handling all notes but xrefs in one way but explicitly expects
an "n" being passed. This should be easily remedied.

I could implement this quite fast, I think, but would like to have your
thoughts +/- agreement.

In an sense this is continuation of my "styling" and "classifying"
work.

Peter