Modify styles: commands

Hi!
In the last couple of weeks I've been trying to modify one of the styles which come with Zotero by default to one which suits my needs better.
I've read a quick tutorial for xml, this "primer" (http://citationstyles.org/downloads/primer.html) and some pages in the zotero website and discussions (for example: http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/5104/modifying-word-plugin-using-journal-abbreviation-instead-of-publication-name/)

with this shallow preparation, I managed to get most of what I needed.. however, I would like to understand better how the styles works, since many of my changes have been reached more trying harder than actually understanding what I was doing.
The main problem is the terminology: some commands or variables in the code of the style are not clear to me.. for example the following lines of code contain some "orders" or commands (whatever they are called) that I cannot find in any of the pages I've read

<name name-as-sort-order="first" and="text" sort-separator=", "
delimiter=", " delimiter-precedes-last="always"/>

<name and="text" sort-separator=", " delimiter=", " delimiter-precedes-last="never"/>

Is there any "dictionary" which provides a list of available commands and an explanation of how they work?
I humbly apologise if my request is too stupid or too generic to deserve an answer... I have no IT skills, and that's just a kind of hobby to me (I should be writing my thesis, goddamnme!)

Thanks
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