2008-07-04

Some ideas for Novelang syntax extensions

Just some ideas here and here.
Here is some text ++- striked out -++.
Oh, yeah, looks like the ''++'' radix is powerful as it cleanly expresses strike. It can be composed with other characters, and supports symmetrical delimiters! I like the plus sign for designating the strike family, as it is a vertical line (figuring some character) with an horizontal strike.
Here we get ++= double strike =++.
Here we get ++$ highlight one $++.
Here we get ++£ highlight two £++.
This is a sample of ++/ oblique strike /++.
The same approach fits for underline. The _ (low-line) character is fine for underline (that was its purpose on mechanical typewriters).
Same for __- underlining -__.
So we have double __= underlining =__.
So we have waved __~ underlining ~__.
Novelang syntax already uses a low line for the "silent end" of interpolated clauses. In order to keep a strong meaning to the low line maybe we should revisit the silent end.
New silent end for interpolated clauses -- like this -<.
And now I've found what double circumflex accent is good for: small caps. Small caps sometimes carry a strong meaning, like for quoting a shouting person, or for names for which case matters (like Charles De Gaulle).
And this is for ^^ Small Caps ^^.
Talking about circumflex I was thinking about superscript those days and according to my researches superscript text is always the last part of a compound text, before a space or a punctuation sign.
Like: 2^nd.
Subscript will work the same way with a single underscore. Ayways I'll have to think a lot about all of this. I must take care of not losing the focus on content-oriented text and not invent a messy markup.

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