Sebastian > If any part of fm98 ... uses keyword=value, then we might as use it > for *everything*. Well I agree with that (and probably agree with using that kind of syntax in general) but I think that in the *everything* I quote above you meant `everything in the front matter'. One reason I didn't use KV in the fmatter package I sketched before was the belief that if you can pursuade authors that they should use \author{MothersMaidenName=Willingham,forename=David, MiddleNameButIDontUseItMuch=Paul,surname=Carlisle} then they might want to start using \section{level=C,tocheading=this,runninghead=that,maintitle=the other} or 1001 other possible extensions. In that case the project is no longer about coming up with a frontmatter specification but re-writing the whole of latex to use named arguments. That isn't a bad idea, but it's probably a different project, one in fact that is not totally unrelated to this list... In a similar vein > the keyval approach has the great > advantage that she need not commit herself immediately to what all > those tags are You don't have to use KV to get that. Using the undef.sty package I posted, the fmatter classes can define any new command. Any class that does not define that command will skip past the undefined command (and any {} or [] arguments) with just a warning message, no error generated). However to assume (for now) we go with a keyvalue syntax, you say > We don't want to repeat address Y, do we? If this was only aimed at TeX there would be an obvious solution since TeX has quite a powerful macro facility built in: \newcommand\addrone{a\\long\\full\postal\\address} \author{name=Me, address=\addrone} \author{name=You, address=\addrone} If you allow TeX expansion on the key values, then you can have any amount of saving of keystrokes without the frontmatter system building in an explicit cross referencing scheme. Possibly though you would want to discourage the use of such general macro definitions in the front matter and restrict the possibilities, either so the frontmatter could be viewed as a general database markup without running it through TeX, or because you just want to easily check the author isn't doing anything too horrible (\renewcommand\section......). In that case some (all?) keys would need some cross referencing scheme as you sketched. > do we simply add more and > more keys to \author, to cover such situations? I don't think you can catch all uses. You will need some kind of generic `note' key analogous to the dreaded \thanks. If every class comes up with a new specific key for special combinations of temporary address then it will once again become hard to share documents between journal classes. For most purposes it would be sufficient to have a `temporary address' key with some kind of attatched note to say `study leave' or `on a visiting KJFJD fellowship' or whatever. If one class defines a new key for `addresses of KJFD visitors' then other class files are not even going to recognise that as an address at all, and will have to just ignore it. Whereas a general address key with an attatched note is more useable. This is assuming you are trying to make documents out of this. If you want to do a database lookup to find all KJFD scholars over the past decade then having a key for it would help, rather. David