Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
136 lines (87 loc) · 6.31 KB

GML.md

File metadata and controls

136 lines (87 loc) · 6.31 KB

Glossa Markup Language (GML)

Glossa Markup Language (GML) is a pivot format designed to serve as a universal intermediary for converting between various wiki syntaxes. GML leverages four custom characters from the Unicode Private Use Area (PUA) to define its unique syntax elements.

The Unicode Private Use Area (PUA)

The Unicode Private Use Area (PUA) is a range of code points reserved specifically for custom, application-specific characters. These code points are intentionally left unassigned by the Unicode Consortium, allowing developers to define their own symbols without the risk of conflict with standardized characters.

Benefits of Using PUA Characters:

  • Custom Symbols: Create unique, recognizable symbols tailored to the needs of your language or format.
  • Consistency: Ensure a consistent and unambiguous syntax by reserving specific code points for GML.
  • Non-Interference: Avoid conflicts with standard characters, as these code points are not assigned to any typical text.
  • Simplified Encoding: Unlike HTML or XML for example, there is no need to escape any standard text character, because they do not interfere with those PUA characters.

GML Special Characters

Below is a table that explains the usage and display of the four special characters used in GML:

Unicode Code Point Display Character Usage Description
U+E000 《 Marks the start of a tag.
U+E001 》 Marks the end of a tag.
U+E002 〡 Acts as a field separator within a tag.
U+E003 〓 Serves as the assignment operator within a tag.

In this documentation, when you see a symbol such as 《, it refers specifically to the Unicode code point U+E000 from the Private Use Area (PUA). This is purely a display convention for readability. It is important to understand that this does not represent the standard CKJ character 《 that exists in Unicode and may be used in GML if needed.

The displayed symbol is simply a visual cue to indicate the designated PUA code point.

Tag Structure in GML

GML tags serve as the fundamental building blocks for representing elements in the Glossa Markup Language. Each tag is designed to encapsulate both the identity of an element (its name) and any related metadata (its attributes).

Tag Components

Every GML tag is composed of two main parts:

  • Tag Name:
    This is the identifier for the tag, much like an HTML or XML tag name. It tells you what type of element or construct is being represented (for example, text, link, or table).

  • Attributes (Optional):
    Attributes are provided as a set of key/value pairs and supply additional information about the element. They follow the tag name within the tag. Each attribute is written in the form:

    key〓value

    Multiple attributes are separated by the field separator (〡).

Constructing a tag

Opening tag with qttributes

An opening tag begins with the start marker, immediately followed by the tag name. If attributes are present, they follow the tag name, each separated by the field separator. Finally, the tag is closed with the end marker. For example:

《tagname 〡key1〓value1 〡key2〓value2》

In this example:

  • tagname identifies the element.
  • key1 is assigned the value value1.
  • key2 is assigned the value value2.

Opening tag without attributes

If no attributes are needed, the tag can simply include the tag name between the start and end markers:

《tagname 》

This format indicates that the element is present without any additional metadata.

Closing tags

To explicitly denote the end of an element, a closing tag is used. The closing tag mimics the opening tag’s structure but includes a forward slash (/) immediately after the start marker to indicate that it is a closing tag:

《/tagname 》

This is analogous to closing tags in HTML or XML and helps define boundaries for nested or complex structures.

Text tag

The text tag is designed to encapsulate long text content along with multiple style modifiers. Here’s an explanation of the core principles behind the tag and its various style options.

Core concepts

The tag allows you to define a block of text and then enhance its presentation using additional style modifiers. The key idea is to combine content with one or more modifiers to achieve the desired visual formatting. The general structure is as follows:

《text 〡content〓<text_content> [〡modifier1 [〓modifier1_value]] [〡modifier2 ...]》

  • Content:
    The main body of text is declared right after the 〡content〓 marker. This section can be very long and represents the text you want to display.

  • Modifiers:
    Following the content, you can append various modifiers to change the appearance of the text. Each modifier targets a specific visual effect.

Available style modifiers

Modifier Purpose
color Color used for the text
bold Makes the text appear in bold
italic Renders the text in an italicized style
underline Underlines the text, an optional color can be specified
wave Applies a wavy underline to the text, an optional color can be specified
background Sets a background color behind the text
strike Draws a line through the text, an optional color can be specified

Example usage

A practical example of the text tag might look like this:

《text 〡content〓This is the content of the text. It can be very long 〡underline〓#012345〡bold》

In this example:

  • Content: The primary text is "This is the content of the text. It can be very long".
  • Underline: The text is underlined with a specific color (#012345).
  • Bold: bold modifier is applied to enhance the emphasis and style of the text.