Lists

Formatting lists in TEI

A <list> is an organized series of items. They may be unmarked, numbered, or alphabetized. For accuracy in the OCR process, we disable the option in ABBYY FineReader to output lists. However, occasionally it will be appropriate to encode output as a list in the TEI. In that case, use the following guidelines.
Note:
We do not use <list> for numbered paragraphs of text—which were once in common stylistic use—unless the paragraphs group or sequence discrete items.
element attribute usage
<list> contains any sequence of items organized as a list.
@type required
@rend required
<head> (heading) contains the heading of a list.
<label> @type="list" marks a syllogism, tabular, or glossary list in which each item is associated with a word or phrase rather than a numeric or alphabetic enumerator. Must have @type="list". NB: if one item in a list is preceded by a label, all must be.
<item> contains one component of a list.
@n supplies an enumerator for the <item> when automatic processing is inadequate, similarly to <label>.
<headLabel> the heading for the <label> column of a tabular list.
<headItem> the heading for the <item> column of a tabular list.

The most common list is a series of related items. Use <list> to identify the list. Use <item> for the individual items in the list.

Certain frequent uses of lists, like for an index or a list of errata, have designated @type values, which are given below in <list @type>.

Lists may also have specific display properties in the original, such as bullets or numbers. Use the @rend values to record those, shown in <list @rend>.

Note:
Both @type and @rend are required attributes of <list>.

Sample list:

<list rend="bulleted" type="index">
    <item>First list member<\item>
    <item>Second list member<\item>
    <item>Third list member<\item>
</list>

Tabular lists

Lists like a glossary or chronology use <label> in addition to <item> for each list item. Thus they resemble a table with two columns. They can present an advantage over tables in indicating the relationship between the enumerator and list item. In the example below, the original text is a syllogism, and the TEI markup follows.

Figure 1. Original text




<list @type>

Use <list> with @type to describe the semantic function of the list.

@type value description
basic a generic list of items.
chronology each <item> describes an historical event, with a date given by a <label> element preceding the list <item>.
errata each list item contains the error, page number, and correction. Use <label> for the error and page number, followed by the correction as <item>.
gloss each list <item> glosses some term or concept, which is given by a <label> element preceding the list <item>.
index each list <item> is an entry in an index such as the alphabetical topical index at the back of a print volume.
instructions each list <item> is a step in a sequence of instructions, as in a recipe.
litany each list <item> is one of a sequence of petitions, supplications or invocations, typically in a religious ritual.
syllogism each list <item> is part of an argument consisting of two or more propositions and a final conclusion derived from them.
works each list <item> is one of a sequence of published works.

<list @rend>

Use <rend> to record the appearance of the list in the source text.

@rend value description
bulleted items preceded by bullets or similar marking
inline items rendered within continuous prose, with no linebreaks
numbered items preceded by numbers or letters
simple items rendered as blocks, but with no bullet or number