# finishing with CSL?

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/finishing-with-csl/308>\
**Category:** CSL Development\
**Created:** [August 12, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/finishing-with-csl/308 "2007-08-12T19:05:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dan\_Stillman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dan\_Stillman](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Dan_Stillman)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/finishing-with-csl/308/21 "2007-08-14T07:16:33Z")

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We ended up having our interns work on other things until the new spec  
was closer to finished. Sounds like we could refocus some of them on  
CSLs. Any new styles created will be added to both Zotero and the  
xbiblio repository.

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/finishing-with-csl/308/22 "2007-08-14T13:26:24Z")

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Just to repeat some of what Simon said, the design goals of CSL are:

1. able to represent a wide-range of real world styles
2. relatively easy to author in XML
3. possible to implement a GUI editor
4. a processor can be implemented in a wide range of languages  
(including XSLT)

As a general rule, then, unless required, stuff gets represented in  
parameters. This tends to support in particular requirements 2 and 3  
above, although also perhaps 4.

So the test of whether we move things out of more fixed parameters into  
more configurable (and hence more complex to program and to edit)  
structures is whether it is _required_ to achieve requirement 1:  
whether, that is, the increased complexity and generality is  
more-than-balanced by demonstrated need.

Am busy today, so will have to come back to this later. Feel free to  
respond to this or to Simon’s note in the meantime John.

Bruce

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**Author:** ![John\_P\_McCaskey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@John\_P\_McCaskey](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/John_P_McCaskey)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/finishing-with-csl/308/23 "2007-08-14T15:20:20Z")

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That makes sense to me. I can see the trade-offs.

My only caution is against assuming we’ve seen all the styles we’d like to  
support. There are standard ones, but individual writers and communities  
create their own all the time. There are probably a dozen used inside just  
the US government that are never seen outside it. Add other governments and  
the UN, their legal communities, military operations, research institutions.  
Add corporate and religious institutions. Add local cultures around the  
world. Can CSL be used in Iceland, the Vatican, or the UN, all places with  
indigenous publishing businesses much bigger than a lot of academic journals  
combined?

Here is what Microsoft ships with Word 2007.

APA American Psychological Association  
Chicago The Chicago Manual of Style  
GB7714 Standardization Administration of China  
GOST The Federal Agency of the Russian Federation on Technical  
Regulating and Metrology [in two versions]  
ISO 690 [in two versions]  
MLA Modern Language Association  
SIST02 Standards for Information of Science and Technology by  
Japan Science and Technology Agency  
Turabian Turabian Style

– John

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