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<sec> Section

Headed group of material; the basic structural unit of the body of a standards document.

Usage/Remarks

Recursive Sections

Standards documents are almost invariably divided into sections, each with a title that describes the content of the section, such as “Introduction”, “Scope”, “Normative References”, or “Terms and definitions”. In the NISO STS Tag Sets, sections are recursive, that is, various levels of sections are indicated by containment, not by different names for the subsections. A <sec> element may contain lower level sections that are also tagged using the <sec> element, not tagged explicitly as <sec2>, <sec3>, or <subsec1>, etc.

Section Types

Best Practice is to use the @sec-type attribute to provide semantic classing of many sections. See the @sec-type page for suggested values.
Placement of Sections
NISO STS standards documents are written in sections, not only within the narrative <body> of the standards document, but also:
  • At the end of the front matter (<front>), following the standard’s metadata, to hold material that is logically part of the front matter, not part of the body of a standards document; and
  • Within the back matter (<back>) to tag material that has not been explicitly named as one of the other back matter components, that is, it is not named as an annex (<app>), an acknowledgment (<ack>), a bibliography (<ref-list>), etc.
Attributes
originator
sec-type
specific-use

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
xml:lang
Models and Context
May be contained in
<abstract>, <ack>, <adoption-front>, <app>, <back>, <bio>, <body>, <boxed-text>, <front>, <notes>, <sec>
Description
The following, in order:
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  sec          %sec-model;                                  >
Expanded Content Model

((editing-instruction)*, sec-meta?, ((label, title?) | title), (address | alternatives | array | boxed-text | chem-struct-wrap | code | fig | fig-group | graphic | media | non-normative-note | normative-note | non-normative-example | normative-example | notes-group | preformat | supplementary-material | table-wrap | table-wrap-group | disp-formula | disp-formula-group | editing-instruction | def-list | list | tex-math | mml:math | p | related-article | related-object | disp-quote | speech | statement | verse-group | fn-group | glossary | ref-list)*, ((sec | term-sec)+, (fn-group | glossary | ref-list | non-normative-note | normative-note | non-normative-example | normative-example | notes-group)*)?)

Tagged Samples
Simple section 
...
<sec sec-type="foreword">
 <title>Foreword</title>
 <p>The text of <std type="dated" std-id="iso:std:iso:15423"
  ><std-ref>ISO/IEC 15423:2004</std-ref></std> has been 
  prepared by Technical Committee ISO/IEC/JTC 1 "Information 
  technology" of the International Organization for 
  Standardization (ISO) and is ...</p>
 ...
</sec>
...
Recursive section 
...
<body>
 ...
 <sec id="s4">
  <label>4</label>
  <title>Accessibility in the standards development 
   process</title>
  <sec id="s4_1">
   <label>4.1</label>
   <title>General</title>
   <p>This clause outlines how accessibility can be 
    addressed in the standards development process:
    <list list-type="bullet">
     <list-item><p><xref ref-type="sec" rid="s4_2">4.2</xref> 
      contains general considerations for standards bodies 
      related to ...</p></list-item>
     <list-item><p><xref ref-type="sec" rid="s4_3">4.3</xref> 
      provides guidance for each of the respective stages of 
      the standards development process to ensure ...</p></list-item>
    </list>
   </p>
  </sec>
  <sec id="s4_2">
   <label>4.2</label>
   <title>Considerations by standards bodies</title>
   <p>Standards bodies should develop a process for ...</p>
  </sec>
  ...
 </sec>
 ...
</body>
...
Section with multi-level subsections (four levels) 
...
<sec id="s6">
 <label>6</label>
 <title>Test requirements</title>
 ...
 <sec id="s6.4">
  <label>6.4</label>
  <title>Test Charts</title>
  <p>Test charts should be produced on dimensionally 
   stable materials with image characteristics which 
   are consistent within ...</p>
  ...
  <sec id="s6.4.1">
   <label>6.4.1</label>
   <title>Test Charts for linear symbologies</title>
   <p>A set of bar code test charts is defined, which 
    shall be used for the tests indicated ...</p>
   ...
  </sec>
  <sec id="s6.4.2">
   <label>6.4.2</label>
   <title>Test charts for multi-row and composite symbols</title>
   <sec id="s6.4.2.1">
    <label>6.4.2.1</label>
    <title>PDF417</title>
    <p>A set of PDF417 test charts defined in 
     <xref ref-type="table" rid="t4">Table 4</xref> 
     shall be used.</p>
    ...
   </sec>
   ...
  </sec>
  ...
 </sec>
 ...
</sec>
...
“Normative references” section 
...
<body>
 ...
 <sec sec-type="norm-refs" id="s2">
  <label>2</label>
  <title>Normative references</title>
  <p>The following referenced documents are indispensable 
   for the application of ...</p>
  <ref-list>
   <ref>
    <std type="undated" std-id="iso:std:iso:9001"
     ><std-ref>ISO 9001</std-ref>, 
     <title>Quality management systems &mdash; 
      Requirements</title></std>
   </ref>
   <ref>
    <std type="undated" std-id="iso-iec:std:iso-iec:15415"
     ><std-ref>ISO/IEC 15415</std-ref>, 
     <title>Information technology &mdash; Automatic identification 
      and data capture techniques &mdash; Bar code print quality 
      test specification &mdash; Two-dimensional symbols</title></std>
   </ref>
   ...
  </ref-list>
 </sec>
 ...
</body>
...
Related Resources