Changes of typeface or pointsize peculiar to any one edition are not explicitly recorded in the encoded texts. However, for users who wish to refer back to the printed sources of poems, page breaks, page numbers and other essential information specific to editions is included in the database. This internationally recognised coding language, specified in ISO 8879, greatly enhances the value of the database to researchers. SGML coding breaks down the full text into its structural elements so that each of these elements can be searched or manipulated separately. It provides a standard method of text capture and description which allows the encoded data to be interchanged or combined with other SGML-coded texts.
Users can merge texts from the database with their own texts for analysis.
Texts from English Poetry can also be used with any SGML-compatible software. Most traditional coding languages have been designed with specific ends in mind, e.g. database manipulation or typesetting. SGML, however, is deliberately neutral so that the output format is determined by the processing software employed, not by the coding itself. Though SGML provides a standard set of rules for how to encode texts, it provides no guidance on which particular textual features should be encoded, since the requirements of different user communities will obviously differ in this respect. Well known existing standards based on SGML include the 'Electronic Manuscript' project of the American Association of Publishers and the CALS standard of the American Department of Defense, and the work of establishing other standards is continuing.