As long as it is not mandatory, I think there is merit in having a document declaration.
Line noise can be minimised if we keep the amount of settings available to a minimum.
Anyhow, if we adopt my concept of block directives . Then this is possible:
!CommonMark: 0.1.23-github.username.projectname
Author: Bane Liciea
Title: Why you should hire me
Date: 32-4-2002
Layout: Resume
... content blabalba ...
You can see that it really doesn’t take much visual noise, and you can include important information that will help user contextualize the document. So it is both machine and human readable.
layout: resume :~ It helps people know that the document is a resume. For machines, it is a suggestion on what default CSS to apply. This is important, as the CSS for a Resume, is vastly different from a academic report for instance.
This has big significance in archival, in that it provides a file descriptor that is carried with the file itself. Think of how a microfiche slide carries a label.
- It can be minimal line noise. Just need to drop the
<>. - It can fall back as a directive.
- File metadescriptors might get lost if not inserted into file
- We cannot predict the future. It’s better safe than sorry, by being futureproofed. Especially once this standard is used in more areas than simply web conversations. Make’s archivist life easier.
- It is optional. Thus it will be used where it makes sense to do so.
Just think of it as an ‘archivist sticker label’ . E.g. the ISBN number may be on it.