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A Short List of Basic but Crucial Tagging Procedures at UVA

Guidelines for SGML Text Mark-up at the Electronic Text Center
David Seaman, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia
[ornament]

  • All major structural divisions MUST be numbered. For instance:
    <div1 type="chapter" n="1">
    [text of chapter one]
    </div1>


  • All major structural divisions MUST be given an attribute of "type". Example:
    <div1 type="volume"> </div1>
    <div1 type="book"> </div1>
    <div1 type="chapter"> </div1>
    [ETC....]

  • Every major divisional marker must be immediately followed (in other words, no line breaks) by a "head" even if there is no information to put inside the "head" tag. For instance:
    <div1 type="chapter" n="1"><head>Chapter One: I Am Born</head>
    [text of chapter one]
    </div1>

    or, if there is no "head" information:
    <div2 type="section"><head></head>
    [text of section]
    </div2>


  • An opened tag MUST have a matching closed tag. (The exception to this are a small set of tags called Empty Tags)


  • In order to "match," an opened tag and its corresponding closed tag must be identical to one another in case. For instance:
    • if you have <div1>, you must have a corresponding </div1>
    • but you may NOT have something like: <Div1> and </div1>


  • All attributes must be enclosed by quotation marks:
    <lg type="stanza" n="3"> NOT <lg type=stanza n=3>


  • All elements, be they major divisional elements or smaller more localized elements, must nest correctly within one another:
    <p>. . .and inside it some one was singing--;
    <q>“Lily-white and clean, oh!<lb />
    With little frills between, oh!<lb />
    Smooth and hot-red rusty spot<lb />
    Never here be seen, oh!”</q></p>
    NOT
    <p>. . .and inside it some one was singing--;
    <q>“Lily-white and clean, oh!<lb />
    With little frills between, oh!<lb />
    Smooth and hot-red rusty spot<lb />
    Never here be seen,oh!”</p></q>

Notice in the first example that the </q> and </p> tags are nested correctly whereas in the second example they are inversed and are therefore incorrect.

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