prose e-texts

[Birgit Kellner]

Dear Dominic,

it seems that your question has remained unanswered so far.

I have not followed any particular discussions in this respect, but here's
simply what I tend to do when entering texts - by no means a perfect
method, but perhaps a starting-point for further discussions:

I usually and add page and line-numbers of the edition used in subscript
right in the text.

When a line- or page-break occurs in the middle of a word, I insert the
corresponding number at the nearest possible space before or afterwards. At
one point I decided to add "%" or "#" before the line-number in such cases,
to indicate that the break occurs somewhere in the middle of the following
("%") or preceding ("#") word. A better idea would perhaps be to
consistently add line-numbers before OR after a word when the break is in
the middle, and to not mix both conventions at all.

If these numbers in the middle of the text are disturbing, there's another
possibility which is visually more attractive: add an asterisk "*" in the
text when there is a line-break and print the corresponding number to the
left or to the right of the text block.

As for variants, I usually add them in braces "{}" wherever appropriate.
This may not be visually attractive, but it is easy to convert such
insertions into footnotes of some sort when creating HTML- or XML-documents
(i.e. clickable links which then show the text in popup windows or in a
different frame).

I am sure there is more professional advice for these cases available,
perhaps in discussions of DTDs in connection with the generation of
XML-documents.

Best regards,

Birgit Kellner


--On Montag, 14. Oktober 2002 17:24 +0500 Dominic Goodall
<ddsg at SATYAM.NET.IN> wrote:

> There has been some discussion in the past about ideal formats for e-texts
> of works in verse, but has there been discussion about formats for prose
> works?  When the prose is not a commentary on a verse or suutra text (in
> which case the verses or suutras themselves often create conveniently
> numberable paragraphs), what are good ways of providing clear referencing
> that is visible for every screenful of text?  E-texts which indicate page
> and line numbers of a well-known edition break up the sentences
> arbitrarily.  And how and where to present variants?
>
> Dominic Goodall