Five Features Selected for Markup

Abbreviations

This manuscript has a large number of abbreviations that should be visible in both original abbreviated and expanded form. While more time-consuming, using the <choice> tag would allow users to see both forms and familiarize themselves with these conventions.

Special characters/abbreviations

My section has, among the more common  nasal suspension marks and -ibus marks, an ī and q3, which a novice reader may not have encountered. It’s crucial for learning purposes to preserve these marks while also elucidating their meaning. I would use an entity reference for the character itself and <expand> tags for the expanded words.

Missing/erased text

In a handful of places, my portion of the text is so badly effaced/faded that the word is uncertain. The <gap> tag can be used to enclose the letters that are unreadable while also pointing to the word itself for other researchers to examine and complete where possible.

Stains/discoloration

The section just below mine has a small stain that is likely just ink,  but I know that a pastedown mark and other stains exist throughout the roll. A <condition> tag will suffice for general descriptions of the stains, and <damage> may work for localizing the stains in the document itself.

Ligatures

This is admittedly a lesser concern, but ligatures can sometimes assist in assigning a provenance to a given work, and novice readers should become familiar with them to avoid mistaking a pair of letters for a distinct letter form. I would use an entity reference here to indicate the linkage of the two letters and enclose the letters themselves in this tag.