Category: w3cSemanticWeb

The article Can we derive base direction from language? is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Thursday 1 April.

Sometimes people wonder whether it’s possible to obtain a definitive list of language tags which indicate a RTL base direction, so that there would be no need for separate direction metadata. This article looks into whether that is really feasible. (Spoiler: The W3C Internationalization Working Group believes it is not a feasible approach.)

Please send any comments as github issues by clicking on this link, or on “Leave a comment” at the bottom of the article. (This will add some useful information to your comment.)

A First Public Working Draft of Strings on the Web: Language and Direction Metadata was published.

This document describes practices for identifying language and base direction for strings used on the Web. It was developed as a result of observations by the Internationalization Working Group over a series of specification reviews related to formats based on JSON, WebIDL, and other non-markup data languages. Unlike markup formats, such as XML, these data languages generally do not provide extensible attributes and were not conceived with built-in language or direction metadata.

The concepts in this document are applicable any time strings are used on the Web, either as part of a formalised data structure, but also where they simply originate from JavaScript scripting or any stored list of strings.

Public comments are welcome, please raise them as github issues.

The Short i18n review checklist points developers of specifications to various aspects of a spec that may need internationalization review. It can also be used by spec reviewers, to get an idea of what to look for in a spec.

Only 12 items long, it follows the format: if the spec or its implementation does X then check Y, and points to the relevant parts of the detailed checklist for more information.

It’s not exhaustive, but it hits the main topics that regularly arise when spec developers are wondering whether their spec may have internationalization issues. If you have comments or questions, please use the GitHub issue list.

The Internationalization Working Group at the W3C has published a new Working Group Note. Character Model for the World Wide Web: String Matching provides authors of specifications, software developers, and content developers a common reference on string identity matching on the World Wide Web and thereby increase interoperability.

String identity matching is the process by which a specification or implementation defines whether two string values are the same or different from one another. It describes the ways in which texts that are semantically equivalent can be encoded differently and the impact this has on matching operations important to formal languages. Topics include normalization and case folding.

Types of language declaration describes how ‘metadata’ and ‘text-processing’ language declarations differ.

HTTP headers, meta elements and language information has been updated to read better, and the information that was to become the previously mentioned article was removed.

The W3C today launched the Internationalization Initiative to expand core work in further internationalizing the Web. “Supporting the W3C Internationalization Initiative with funding or expertise is a vital way that our Web community creates the future of the global Web,” said Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. W3C thanks Alibaba, Apple, Advanced Publishing Lab (Keio University), Monotype, and The Paciello Group who have stepped up as Founding Sponsors. Read about the Sponsorship Program and the press release and testimonials.

A final draft of Character Model for the World Wide Web: String Matching is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Tuesday 29 May.

This document builds on the document Character Model for the World Wide Web 1.0: Fundamentals to provide authors of specifications, software developers, and content developers with a common reference on string identity matching on the World Wide Web, in order to increase interoperability.

All comments are welcome. Please raise them as github issues. To make it easier to track comments, please raise separate issues or emails for each comment, and point to the section you are commenting on using a URL.

This article illustrates problems that can arise when strings are inserted into text and then displayed to users in different directional contexts: left-to-right (LTR) vs. right-to-left (RTL).

Read the article.

A draft of a new article, Strings and bidi is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Tuesday 15 August.

This article illustrates problems that can arise when strings, such as those used in JSON or string-based data formats, are inserted into text and then displayed to users given different directional contexts: left-to-right (LTR) vs. right-to-left (RTL).

Please send any comments as github issues by clicking on this link, or on “Leave a comment” at the bottom of the article. (This will add some useful information to your comment.)

A draft of a new article, Floating times is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Tuesday 20 June.

This article answers the question: What is a floating time and how do I handle floating times in my Web application?

Please send any comments as github issues by clicking on this link, or on “Leave a comment” at the bottom of the article. (This will add some useful information to your comment.)