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4.6.2 Document Structure
------------------------

The 'ms' macro package expects a certain amount of structure: a
well-formed document contains at least one paragraphing or heading macro
call.  Longer documents have a structure as follows.

*Document type*
     Calling the 'RP' macro at the beginning of your document puts the
     document description (see below) on a cover page.  Otherwise, 'ms'
     places the information (if any) on the first page, followed
     immediately by the body text.  Some document types found in other
     'ms' implementations are specific to AT&T or Berkeley, and are not
     supported by 'groff' 'ms'.

*Format and layout*
     By setting registers and strings, you can configure your document's
     typeface, margins, spacing, headers and footers, and footnote
     arrangement.  *Note ms Document Control Settings::.

*Document description*
     A document description consists of any of: a title, one or more
     authors' names and affiliated institutions, an abstract, and a date
     or other identifier.  *Note ms Document Description Macros::.

*Body text*
     The main matter of your document follows its description (if any).
     'ms' supports highly structured text consisting of paragraphs
     interspersed with multi-level headings (chapters, sections,
     subsections, and so forth) and augmented by lists, footnotes,
     tables, diagrams, and similar material.  *Note ms Body Text::.

*Tables of contents*
     Macros enable the collection of entries for a table of contents (or
     index) as the material they discuss appears in the document.  You
     then call a macro to emit the table of contents at the end of your
     document.  The table of contents must necessarily follow the rest
     of the text since GNU 'troff' is a single-pass formatter; it thus
     cannot determine the page number of a division of the text until it
     has been set and output.  Since 'ms' was designed for the
     production of hard copy, the traditional procedure was to manually
     relocate the pages containing the table of contents between the
     cover page and the body text.  Today, page resequencing is more
     often done in the digital domain.  An index works similarly, but
     because it typically needs to be sorted after collection, its
     preparation requires separate processing.