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This is an XML DTD for writing Frequently Asked Questions FAQs.
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QAML Version 2.4 last modified Oct 6 1999
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by Justin Higgins (jhiggins@dn.net)
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and Rick Jelliffe (ricko@gate.sinica.edu.tw)
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It is based on the QAML 1.0 DTD, with minimal alterations
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for XML, I18N (internationalization), XLL hypertext linking,
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style, accessability and tracking. Multi-part answers are
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supported a little better. Corporate and "look-and-feel"
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needs are supported better: rights, PICS, logos, advertising
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sections, corporate addresses.
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* XML: Documents written using the QAML 1.0 DTD
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are structurally compatible with this DTD; however, such
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documents need to be converted into "well-formed" XML:
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make sure they are fully tagged with start-end tags for
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every element. If you are not using 7-bit ACSCII or
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UTF-8, specify the appropriate XML encoding header. If you are
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not using English, specify the appropriate xml:lang language
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attributes. Use lower-case element type names.
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* I18N: All elements with data content, and the top element,
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may have a language attribute. People may have alternative names
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in different scripts: e.g., a Chinese name and an English
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* XLink: All elements may have an ID attribute. A fixed xml:link
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attribute has been added to link and archive, for housekeeping.
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(Link is used like HTML's <a> and <img> and <link> element types.
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Archive points to the official location of the current and
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precious version of the FAQ, and to translations.)
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Note that the xml:show attribute is available in this DTD, but
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may not be available at the user's system. The following
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link roles are defined by this DTD, but you can add your own:
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"Text", "Image", "Sound", "Software", "Data", "Interactive"
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are the base Dublin Core categories for the resource types.
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A logo is a special XLink: it just points to some icon or logo
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or picture. (The logo does not represent a clickable hypertext
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link: it is just for graphical purposes.) The link elements at
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the start of the head element are intended for similar uses as
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the HTML link element type: a role "bgimage" is defined by this DTD.
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* Style: An element "span" is introduced with the same use as in HTML.
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All elements have a class attribute, which may help better
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processing in CSS. The following classes are defined by this DTD,
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but you can add your own:
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For section elements: "intro" (a preamble), "rights" (copyright),
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"advert" (for advertising), "info" (for corporate info about the
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siteowner, subject, product, or sponsor) and "links" (related sites);
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For p elements: "li" and "pre", with the HTML meanings: there
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is no provision for nested lists or tables;
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For span elements: "tt", "em", "i", "b" & "strong", with the HTML meanings;
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Also: "definition" and "keyword", for indexing
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For p and span elements: "sent", with the JSML meaning
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For the span element type: "literal" with the JSML meaning
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(to be spelled out as letters)-this helps WAI too;
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For the span element type: "abbr" and "acronym" are also available,
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(an acronym is pronouncable: NASA), roughly from HTML
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For the div element type: "ul" and "ol" with the HTML meanings.
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The div element type is new with QAML 2.1; we found we could
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not create good HTML lists without it. However, we have not
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allowed nested lists with it, at this stage.
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Note: if you use class="pre", also specify xml:space="preserve"
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to inhibit the stripping of white space by the XML processor.
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If you are attempting "ASCII art", use
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<p class="pre" xml:space="preserve" alt="explanatory text">...
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where the alt attribute holds some explanatory text.
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Please note that you should not rely on format effects
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(font, boldness) to convey meaning in these FAQs. The output
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system of the user may not support them.
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If you do not put your own numbers in titles, you can signify this
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by specifying the autonum attribute on a body or section to "yes".
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* Accessability: QAML has been checked against the W3C WAI guidelines;
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the link, p & span elements can have an "title" attribute.
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The span element can have a class="literal", for contractions to be
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spoken out in individual letters, "abbr" for an abbreviations,
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and "acronym" for acronyms. The latter two may be marked up with
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title attribute for better pronunciation. Multiple logos are possible,
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to allow sound as well as visual logos.
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Refer /www.w3.org/TR/WD-WAI-PAGEAUTH/
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* Dublin Core: The mappings to Dublin Core metadata are noted.
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The Dublin Core type for FAQs is "faq". (The althdr element
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can be used similar to the HTML meta element, to add arbitrary
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* Tracking: A data attribute has been added to various elements.
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Use an ISO 8601 format date: yyyy-mm-dd or yyyymmdd.
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The archive element can link to previous versions and translations.
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The maintainer can advise the preferred subject line to be used
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in emails about the FAQ, using the element type "subject".
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A version element has been added to element type head
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* PICS and rights: PICS labels can be added to the header using the
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label element type. Refer http://www.w3.org/PICS/
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A text version concerning rights can be given in a section
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with a class="rights" attribute.
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* PDA and Wireless Systems: to allow better interaction with PDA and
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wireless systems, which have very small screen real-estate, the
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<a> answer element type can take a "gist" attribute: this can have
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a 1 to 5 word summary of the answer. The PDA would use that for example:
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A: Barking animal >more>
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where the ">more>" links to the full answer.
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QAML Version 1.0 last modified 16 July 1997
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by Justin Higgins (jhiggins@dn.net)
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Public identifier for SGML version of QAML Version 1,0:
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+//ISBN 82-7640-023//DTD Frequently Asked Questions//EN//19940603
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Public identifier for this XML version:
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+//IDN faq.org//DTD Frequently Asked Questions 2.3//EN//XML
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Rights: This DTD is copyright 1994-1999 Justin Higgins and Rick
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Jelliffe. You can use it freely for any purpose under the terms
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of the MPL or GPL. Documents created using this DTD are copyright
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their (human or corporate) authors and maintainers, subject to
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local law, unless explicitly noted in the FAQ text or markup.
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Thanks: Eric Luhrs, C.T.Chang, Andy Leighton, David Pawson
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Notice: ID attributes will soon be made #REQUIRED on section and on
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qna. Please always use them.
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<!-- New in version 2.4
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email not mandatory for authors and contributors
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block of links allowed at start of head
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<!-- New in version 2.3
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Version element added
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Allow someone to have more than one email address (deprecated)
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Namespace declaration added
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<!ELEMENT faq (head, body) >
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<!ELEMENT a (p | div)+ >
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<!ELEMENT address (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT althdr (type, content) ><!-- DC:DESCRIPTION -->
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<!ELEMENT archive (#PCDATA) ><!-- DC:IDENTIFIER? -->
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<!ELEMENT author (logo*, name+, email?) ><!-- DC:CREATOR -->
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<!ELEMENT body (section+ | qna+) >
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<!ELEMENT content (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT contributor (logo*, name, email?) ><!-- DC:CONTRIBUTOR -->
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<!ELEMENT email (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT head (title, version?, maintain+, hdr*, althdr*, archive*,label*, link*)>
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<!ELEMENT hdr (type, content) ><!-- DC:DESCRIPTION -->
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<!ELEMENT label (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT link (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT logo (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT maintain (logo*, name+, email+, subject?, address?) >
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<!-- DC:AUTHOR or DC:PUBLISHER -->
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<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT p (#PCDATA | link | span)* >
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<!ELEMENT q (#PCDATA | link | span)* >
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<!ELEMENT qna (logo*, q, (logo?,topic?,author?,contributor*,a)+)>
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<!ELEMENT section (logo*, title, (qna+ | q+ | ( p | div | section)+)) >
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<!ELEMENT span (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT subject (#PCDATA) >
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<!ELEMENT title (#PCDATA) ><!-- DC:TITLE -->
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<!ELEMENT topic (#PCDATA) ><!-- DC:TITLE -->
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<!ELEMENT type (#PCDATA) ><!-- DC:SUBJECT -->
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<!ELEMENT version (#PCDATA) >
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<!-- Type categories include:
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Television & Radio -->
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<!ATTLIST a id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST archive href CDATA #REQUIRED
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xml:link CDATA #FIXED "simple" >
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<!ATTLIST author id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST althdr id ID #IMPLIED
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schema CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST div id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST body id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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autonum ( yes | no ) "no" >
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<!ATTLIST content id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST contributor id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST email id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST faq id ID #IMPLIED
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xmlns:html CDATA #FIXED "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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date CDATA #IMPLIED ><!-- DC:DATE -->
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<!ATTLIST head id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST hdr id ID #IMPLIED
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schema CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST label PICSversion CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST link id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:link CDATA #FIXED "simple"
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show (embed|replace|new) "new"
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actuate (auto|user) "user"
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behavior CDATA #IMPLIED >
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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xml:link CDATA "simple"
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actuate (auto|user) "auto" >
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<!ATTLIST maintain id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST name id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST p id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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xml:space ( default | preserve ) #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST q id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST qna id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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date CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST section id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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autonum ( yes | no ) "no" >
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<!ATTLIST span id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST title id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
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<!ATTLIST topic id ID #IMPLIED
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xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED
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<!ATTLIST type id ID #IMPLIED
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class CDATA #IMPLIED >
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<!-- Why use QAML instead of HTML?
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Because unconstrained HTML is too powerful and loose! -->
added
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xml/qaml/qaml-xml.dtd
