33. The data processing system of claim 32, wherein the means for applying property specifications includes: means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and means for combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element.
33. The data processing system of claim 32, wherein the means for applying property specifications includes: means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element of the starting point element in the digital document; and means for combining the property specifications of the ancestor elements with the property specification of the starting point element. 35. The data processing system of claim 33, wherein the type name of a markup element includes the type name of any ancestor element; and wherein the means for retrieving the property specification of each ancestor element comprises means for retrieving said property specification using the type name of the ancestor element obtained from the type name of the starting point element.