[FM Discuss] Style Guide?

[Janet Swisher]

On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 3:35 AM, Martin Kean <Martin.Kean at op.ac.nz> wrote:
> Page typography in the manuals is formatted by the CSS, so typographic conventions and
> rules will be expressed in the CSS syntax. There's kind of a default FM
> typeface and paragraph style, which works, and is set in stone by the
> typography.css.

What's created in the HTML will be formatted by the CSS. But the
question as I understand it is how to apply HTML formatting
semantically. We're not using a semantic markup language, and we're
not willing to force authors to use spans and class IDs, so we do not
have a separation of content and format. For example, are names of UI
elements bold, italic, or surrounded in quotes? The CSS will "do the
right thing" with whichever one you pick, but we do not have
consistency in which one is used.

> Or is it? In Objavi, you can modify the CSS for a FLOSS Manual or choose
> your own, for instance publication sizes from a drop-down menu.
> I can imagine this method as a model for choosing writing styles.

Depends very much what you mean by "writing style". I have a hard time
imagining that (with current technology) for what I mean by it.

> Here is an online typographic style guide that makes suggestions for type formatting
> in the form of CSS syntax:
> The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web,
> http://webtypography.net/

That's an excellent resource, but I think the kinds of choices we're
discussing having a style guide for are at a higher level.

Cheers,
Janet