A master format should never be designed with current devices in mind.
Well, I guess a master format can include markups such as the <q> ... </q> and still have the option that submitters choose not to do the work. Which I admit is somewhat of a cop-out, when I acknowledge that I book I just did could have used the curlies, but I didn't do them -- because no one else does them either. I also did a book that really needed half-spaces, and I didn't do those either. But I have a better excuse there, in that way PG isn't ready to accept half-spaces. PG/DP also have a bunch of bunged-up rules about how to compromise other punctuation which grate me but how many fights are you going to fight, especially when you know up front you're going to lose them, and by not fighting the fight you end up having to do a lot less tiresome work? My bottom line excuse is that I'm way happy to help anyone get set up for another pass on any of the works I have submitted if they claim they want to do a much more detailed job.