# Adding notations

A notation is a means of associating a binary description with an entity or attribute. The most common uses of notations are to include familiar types of binary references, such as GIFs and JPGs, in an XML file.

For example, you are making a catalogue of your clothing and want to include an image of one of your shirts. You would have to create a notation like this: `<notation name="My_Shirt" system="GIF"></notation>` which defines a notation for a GIF image.

The following instructions were written for the Resource perspective, but they will also work in many other perspectives.

To create a notation, follow these steps:

1. Open your XML schema in the XML schema editor.
2. In the Outline view, right-click your XML schema and click Add Notation.
3. In the Properties view, type the name of the notation in the Name field.
4. Click the Other tab.
5. In the public field, type a public identifier. This is optional if you enter a value in the system field.
6. In the system field, type a URI reference. This is optional if you enter a value in the public field.
7. Click the Documentation tab if you want to provide any information about this notation. The Documentation page is used for human readable material, such as a description, and the App Info page can be used to provide information for applications.