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Subject: More thoughts on 'you can'
Greetings,
Another aspect of the 'you can' discussion is whether it is being used
to state a requirement.
Note that in section 1.2 Notation, we limit key words to those found in
RFC 2119. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt
"Within this specification, the key words "must", "must not",
"required", "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "recommended",
"may", and "optional" are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] if
they appear in uppercase bold letters."
Another relevant document on practice is "QA Framework: Specification
Guidelines," http://www.w3.org/TR/qaframe-spec/, see section C.2 in
particular.
Note that the "QA Framework: Specification Guidelines" does have one
example of 'you can' but it is not stating a requirement. It is
directing the reader to additional information, not stating a requirement.
For example, in 2.8, Page Styles and Layouts, fifth paragraph, the first
sentence reads:
"In text and spreadsheet documents, you can assign a master page to
paragraph and table styles using a style:master-page-name attribute."
If that is stating a requirement of the specification, then it is not
using the terms specified in 1.2 Notation.
Restated using 1.2 Notation:
"In text and spreadsheet documents, a master page MAY be assigned to
paragraph and table styles. Master page assignments to paragraph or
table styles are made using the style:master-page-name attribute."
Another source to consider would be to post the question with a couple
of examples to more experienced standards writers. I suspect Jon Bosak
has participated in writing more standards than I have read so he or
others with his experience might be good sources of advice on this type
of style question.
Hope everyone is having a great day!
Patrick
--
Patrick Durusau
Director of Research and Development
Society of Biblical Literature
Patrick.Durusau@sbl-site.org
Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model
Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!
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