User:CharlesSpencer/sandbox/USStat section head template/doc

About
Intended to speed up proofreading of Acts of Congress. The format has been derived with reference to Volume 33 of the United States Statutes at Large, which appears to use a consistent format throughout. A rapid scan shows that Volume 32 appears to use the same format, although no other volumes have been reviewed.

The template assumes that sidenotes in the Page namespace are on the right unless the side parameter is set to left. All sidenotes display on the right in other namespaces regardless of the side parameter. Horizontal lines suppressed in the Page namespace by setting the topchap parameter to y are no longer suppressed in other namespaces either.

Mandatory parameters are:


 * date: the date given in the sidenote, and in the last line of the Chapter as the date of approval, no final period
 * public: set this to y for Public or n for Private
 * serial: the number only - the text "Public/Private, No. " and the final period are supplied by the template
 * congress: supply the string without its final period - will read S. or H.R. followed by a number and a period, e.g. H.R. 311.
 * chapter: the number of the Chapter
 * title: the title of the Act as specified, no final period

Optional parameters are:


 * topchap: set to y to suppress the horizontal line at the start of the first chapter of a page; this is effective in the Page namespace only
 * side: for sidenotes on the left set to left; this is effective in the Page namespace only

The template is unable to manage pagebreaks dynamically. The template can be used in the subst: mode to assist with the manual proofreading and formatting of Chapters crossing a pagebreak.

The template automatically formats the text, as well as providing section tags in the form  for the entire template output, and  for the Chapter heading line and short title, where ## is the number defined in the chapter parameter.

Example

 * Simple grant to a male pensioner


 * Increase of pension to a female pensioner with proviso

