RE: variable question

> As Jeni says, perhaps this is a bad idea to have the global 
> variable I  
> want to apply in different contexts, but the advantage is obvious  
> enough (if it can work at all!).
Variables aren't "applied". A global variable has one value only, and is
always evaluated in the context of the root node of the principal source
document. If you want the value to depend on the context at the time you
reference the variable, then you need a function or template, not a
variable.

Michael Kay