[Foundation-l] cite markup - take 2

Fri Dec 16 16:54:29 UTC 2005

All-

Here is a second attempt at citation mark-up based
upon your comments from last time.  The new syntax is
intentionally very footnote-like, since wiki-text has
most of the visual and editing characteristics of
regular print text.  The mark-up is used to create
"citation points" within an article to which
references to evidence can then be attached.  The
following is the syntax for the 3 basic types of
citation points:

Explicit Block: '++' ... '++fn'  (fn for footnote);
applies to all text between the opening '++' and the
closing '++fn'

Implicit Block: '++fn' ; extends backwards, ending at
the first occurrence of a preceding citation point or
the beginning of the current sentence

Immediate: +fn ; applies only to the preceding word
or, if next to quoted text, the entire quotation

Each citation point within an article will have a
unique number associated with it- e.g. '++fn6' .  An
editor can explicitly assign citation point numbers
themselves, or else let the software automatically
generate the numbers for them.

Going back to Anthony's example from last time, let's
say an editor opens article [[Roy Orbison]] and sees
the following:

'''Roy Kelton Orbison''' ([[April 23]], [[1936]]
&ndash; [[December 6]], [[1988]]), nicknamed "The Big
O" ...

The editor is not an expert on the article's subject,
but can still create stub citation points for each of
the article's factual assertions:

'''Roy Kelton+fn Orbison''' (++[[April 23]] [[1936]]
&ndash; [[December 6]] [[1988]]++fn), nicknamed "The
Big O"+fn, ++was an influential [[United
States|American]] [[singer-songwriter]] and a pioneer
of [[rock and roll]]++fn, whose recording career
spanned more than four decades++fn. By the
mid-[[1960s]] Orbison was internationally recognized
for his ++ballads of lost love++fn,  rhythmically
advanced melodies++fn, three-[[octave]] vocal
range++fn, characteristic dark [[sunglasses]]++fn, and
sometimes distinctive usage of [[falsetto]]++fn,
typified in songs such as "[[Only The Lonely]]",
"[[Oh, Pretty Woman]]", and "[[Crying
(song)|Crying]]". In [[1989 in music|1989]], he was
inducted posthumously into the [[National Academy of
Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame]]++fn.

Hitting the preview button, the editor sees the
following:

'''Roy Kelton+fn1 Orbison''' (++[[April 23]] [[1936]]
&ndash; [[December 6]] [[1988]]++fn2), nicknamed "The
Big O"+fn3, ++was an influential [[United
States|American]] [[singer-songwriter]] and a pioneer
of [[rock and roll]]++fn4, whose recording career
spanned more than four decades++fn5...

Below the wiki-text article text area on the preview
page there will be input fields for every citation
point/footnote within the article, with fields for
such things as ISBN number/URL, page number, and cited
(as opposed to paraphrased- i.e. inside the article)
text.  The editor can then provide values for all,
some, or none of these citations before saving the
article.

I will come up with some more detailed mock-ups of
this design once you let me know there are no major
usability issues with it.  Thanks.

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