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<h1>Intro</h1>
<br>
I was trying to rationalise to myself why I so disliked the creole
markup "wish-list" and I began noting down all the things I dislike
about creole and using wikis, bulletin boards and other text input in
general. The current status is really just a note to myself to help me
work out what to do next in terms of which strategy for markup.<br>
<br>
"KIRK" still refers to my ambition to one day know how to enter "bodly
go" in bold into any text application.<br>
<br>
<h1>Meta Aims<span style=""> </span></h1>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Definitions</span></b><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="a">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Display</span></b><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> refers to any mechanism whereby the words
and characters of the text are conveyed to the user with the emphasis
and added information given by the markup.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
User</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> refers to anyone
entering text with markup.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54pt;"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="2" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">No
Markup Default. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
default for any kirk text shall be to display the text as unformatted
characters and in particular:<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="a">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Alphanumeric
characters shall always have their normal meaning except in exceptional
circumstances and only then in specific contexts.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kirk
shall clearly define in all contexts, the non-alphanumeric characters
which retain their normal meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
mechanisms to avoid text being interpreted as markup shall be many and
obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
conditions for causing text to be interpreted as markup shall be
explicit and in any case of ambiguity the default shall be that the
text is not interpreted as markup.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Formatting
will cease if any condition occurs which a reasonable user would
interpret as the end of formatting.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54pt;"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="3" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Translatable.
</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">It shall be possible
to translate the kirk text to a form where text and formatting are
independent so that any kirk page may be translated and displayed
identically in this external formatting and then translated back such
that no matter how many times this cycle is repeated, the final kirk
page shall have an identical appearance to the user as any initial kirk
page. <br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">No
impossible text. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
specification of Kirk shall be such that any arbitrary page of ASCII
(or other) text within the hypothetical external format, can be
reproduced so as to appear to be the same characters as a whole page or
as a part within any formatting section (with the exception of tabs
where the formatting is controlled by external factors)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="5" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Defined
tokens. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kirk formatting
tokens shall consist of:<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="a">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Whitespace:
consisting of one or more spaces and/or tabs<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Newlines
(including all combinations of single linefeed and carriage return)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Two
or more identical symbols<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">A
newline followed by one or more identical symbols<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Single
characters or combinations not covered by the above but only within
specific contexts (such as within tables or in formatting or division
of parts within a hyperlink), with the sole exception of …<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">…
the escape character whose action shall always be to cause the
following single character to be interpreted as a none token character
and to be displayed as is; except, where the escape character’s
behaviour is explicitly defined and compatible with aims (2) and (3) .<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">Within
specific contexts such as tables, tokens may signal specific behaviour
as the first whitespace character after a newline or the last none
whitespace character before a newline.<br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Simple
and Consistent Syntax.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Where elements follow a syntax, this must be simple and consistent
between different elements. Where elements are identified by order, the
order from left to right must follow:<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<ol style="margin-top: 0cm;" start="1" type="a">
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
natural flow as the user sees it,<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Arial;">or
the priority of the elements from highest to lowest as seen by the user.<br
style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Intuition.
</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The tokens used in
Kirk shall relate as closely as possible to the format that they
produce. <br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Extendible.</span></b><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> The kirk specification shall make
provision for extension so that any text including any arbitrary
extension shall be displayed by any application unable to interpret the
extension in a consistent, predictable manner.<br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Declaration</span></b><span
style="font-family: Arial;">. Applications should actively inform the
user in a prominent way that they are Kirk compatible and provide
details of any extensions to the standard.<br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></li>
</ol>
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">Help</span></b><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">. All kirk compatible
applications must provide on each page where Kirk text is entered by
the user a
mechanism to provide help for the user with the details of the Kirk
markup. <b><br style="">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="">
<!--[endif]--></b></span>
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