Z3986 Issues Detail

Doctitle and Covertitle in Structure Guidelines

Submitted By:   Dave Pawson

Status:   Resolved

Issue Type:   Structure Guidelines

Assigned To:   Lynn Leith

Issue Description:   

Use: doctitle marks the full title of the book, including any subtitles, <frontmatter>. By convention <doctitle> should appear. Contrast with covertitle.

From the Structure Guidelines: Markup: Doctitle should be the first element inside the front matter and can be used to quickly identify the book. It thus serves the same function as does the title printed on the cover of the print book and should contain the same information. Note "printed on the cover", which to me implies covertitle?

and covertitle from the dtd

Use: covertitle is the short title of a book, often found on the spine. It may be the same as the doctitle.

I can't find covertitle in the Structure Guidelines.

The comment is made though, when a book contains a title which is abbreviated on the cover, with the full title presented on the title page, <covertitle> should be used to mark up the abbreviated title, and <doctitle> to mark up the full title as shown on the title page.

Question: covertitle, is it the abbreviated form, doctitle being the more complete version?