Archives for: 2007

This article was updated substantially to cover XML as well as (X)HTML and provide additional details. [search keys: qa-bidi-controls]

Comments are being sought on this article prior to final release. Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to publish a final version in one to two weeks. [search keys: qa-what-is-encoding]

The following talks were given at the Internationalization & Unicode Conference in San Jose, USA (15-17 Oct 2007).

Richard Ishida gave a presentation entitled Hints for Designing International Web Pages. [search keys: talk-2007 talk-ishida]

Felix Sasaki gave a presentation entitled Internationalization Tag Set 1.0 – A New Standard for Internationalization and Localization of XML . [search keys: talk-2007 talk-sasaki]

Conference program

The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Best Practices for XML Internationalization. This document provides a set of guidelines for developing XML documents and schemas that are internationalized properly. Following the best practices describes here allow both the developer of XML applications, as well as the author of XML content to create material in different languages.

Editors: Yves Savourel, Jirka Kosek. [search key: tr-bp-xml-i18n]

FAQ-based article: How do I use language markup in HTML or XML content when I don't know the language, or the content is non-linguistic?

By Richard Ishida, W3C. [search key: qa-no-language]

The Perl regular expression for testing for UTF-8 was updated. For a detailed list of changes read the full post.

Read More…

Thanks to Rafael Zanella the FAQ-based article "Setting charset information in .htaccess" has now been translated into Brazilian Portuguese (language negotiated). [search key: qa-htaccess-charset]

Thanks to Gaston Diego Valente the FAQ-based article "Localization vs. Internationalization" has now been translated into Spanish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-i18n]

A set of initial results has been published for the tests that check whether and how a user agent displays ruby markup in XHTML 1.0 that is served as text/html. [search keys: results-ruby-markup]

These tests examine how a user agent handles various levels of ruby markup and styling. The tests were largely rewritten to provide additional information and make results clearer. In addition, objectives and descriptions were added for all tests. The results page is new. Please send comments to www-international@w3.org. [search keys: test-ruby-markup results-list-style-type]

Since it is mentioned in the CSS 2.1 specification, Firefox, Opera and Safari (and maybe more) browsers allow you to number HTML lists using Armenian numerals.

The basic algorithm followed is described in the CSS3 Lists module.

You can see some tests and results.

Some questions have arisen about a couple of details relating to the approach specified in CSS3, and we would like to get clarity from people with appropriate knowledge of this subject. Please participate in the email discussion on www-international@w3.org if you can help.

Please provide advice on the representation of 7000 and of numbers above 9,999.

In a recent email Simon Montagu expresses the questions as follows:

[This wikipedia link], which quotes no sources, corresponds to the implementation in Firefox and Opera (upper-case characters and only Ւ for 7000).

[This link] is an article from National Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 8 (May, 1939). I don't have access to download the full article, but the URI shows the first page, which includes a table showing lower-case characters and only ւ for 7000.

Furthermore, there are contradictions in http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-lists/ -- the prose description of the algorithm says:

"This is a simple additive system defined for the range 1 to 99999999.
The digits are split into two groups of four (if there are less than eight digits, the least significant group is filled first). Within each group, appropriate digits are picked from the following list (at most one per column) and written in descending order by value (thousands first). Any characters in the most significant group are then combined with a circumflex accent, ◌̂ U+0302."

This implies that the circumflex has the effect of multiplying by 10000, but the following example uses the circumflex to multiply by 1000:

"Example 1: Decimal 7482951 in lower-armenian is ու̂ն̂ձ̂սջծա U+0578 U+0582
U+0302 U+0576 U+0302 U+0571 U+0302 U+057D U+057B U+056E U+0561. "

If the example is correct, the system will only be defined up to 9,999,999 and not 99,999,999. Digits from 1000 to 9000 would also have two possible representations: either ռ ս ... or ա̂ բ̂ ... and it isn't clear whether one should be preferred or either may be used.

These tests check whether a user agent supports internationalised CSS-based numbering methods for lists. More extensive tests and results have been added for Armenian, Georgian, and lower-case Greek numbering, based on CSS3 algorithms but to support the CSS 2.1 Candidate Recommendation. [search keys: test-list-style-type results-list-style-type]

This article was largely rewritten to provide greater clarity, and further information about how to detect and remove a UTF-8 signature. [search keys: qa-utf8-bom]

Read More…

This tutorial was updated to reflect the fact that IE7 no longer flips into quirks mode when an XML declaration is used. For a detailed list of changes read the full post. [search keys: tutorial-char-enc]

Read More…

This article was updated to reflect the fact that IE7 no longer flips into quirks mode when an XML declaration is used. For a detailed list of changes read the full post. [search keys: article-serving-xhtml]

Read More…

Thanks to A.Osobka and N.Fabisz the FAQ-based article "HTML, XHTML, XML and Control Codes" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-controls]

Thanks to A.Osobka and N.Fabisz the FAQ-based article "Styling using the lang attribute" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-css-lang]

Thanks to A.Osobka and N.Fabisz the article "Introducing Character Sets and Encodings" (part of the Getting Started series) has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: gs-characters]

At the request of Mark Davis, added the text:

"See also ICU4J since it contains more up-to-date data (and more functionality) than the JDK routines." [search keys: qa-date-format]

FAQ-based article: How can I ensure that when text expands in translation the background images will still work?

By Richard Ishida, W3C. [search key: qa-resizing-backgrounds]

When text is translated from one language to another, the length of the source and translated text is likely to be different. This article provides background material that will briefly explore some of the systematic differences.

By Richard Ishida, W3C. [search key: article-text-size]

Planet i18n has just been launched by the I18n Core Working Group. It gathers together posts from various blogs that talk about internationalization (i18n). While it is hosted by the W3C Internationalization Activity, the content of the individual entries represent only the opinion of their respective authors and does not reflect the position of the Internationalization Activity.

If you own a blog with a focus on internationalization, and want to be added or removed from this aggregator, please get in touch with Richard Ishida at ishida@w3.org. [search keys: planet-i18n]

The Internationalization Tag Set Working Group published an updated Working Draft of Best Practices for XML Internationalization. These guidelines explain how XML application developers and XML content authors can create formats and content that enable use by speakers of a variety of languages and that facilitate the translation and localization process. The best practices are a complement to the International Tag Set Recommendation, but also address topics not covered by that document. [search key: tr-bp-xml-i18n]

Editors: Yves Savourel, ENLASO Corporation, Jirka Kosek, Invited Expert, Diane Stoick, Boeing Corporation. [search keys: tr-bp-xml-i18n]

Thanks to Gaston Valente and the Spanish Translation Team, Trusted Translations, Inc., the article "Language tags in HTML and XML" has now been translated into Spanish (language negotiated). [search key: article-language-tags]

Comments are being sought on this article prior to final release. Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to publish a final version in one to two weeks. [search keys: qa-resizing-backgrounds]

Comments are being sought on this article prior to final release. Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to publish a final version in one to two weeks. [search keys: article-text-size]

Thanks to Andrew Osobka and Natalia Fabisz the FAQ-based article "xml:lang in XML document schemas" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-when-xmllang]

Richard Ishida gave a presentation entitled Designing for International Users: Practical Tips at the @media conferences in San Francisco, USA (24 May, 2007) and London, UK (7 June, 2007). [search keys: talk-2007 talk-ishida]

Program and slides

Photos

The Internationalization Core Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of this internationalization best practices document to show progress so far.

Part of a series designed for authors, the document will provide advice for the use of XHTML or HTML markup and CSS to create pages for languages that use right-to-left scripts, such as Arabic and Hebrew. It attempts to counter many of the misunderstandings or over-complexities that currently abound.

The title has been changed to reflect that these are 'Best practices' rather than 'Techniques', and the content and format has been substantially reworked.

Editor: Richard Ishida. [search keys: tr-bp-bidi]

The tutorials "An Introduction to Multilingual Web Addresses" and "Using language information in XHTML, HTML and CSS" have been decommissioned, to facilitate updating of material and reduce duplication.

The information in the first tutorial is already covered by the more up-to-date article An Introduction to Multilingual Web Addresses. The meat of the second tutorial is covered by the articles Styling using the lang attribute, and Setting language preferences in a browser.

[search key: tutorial-tutorial-lang] [search key: tutorial-idn-and-iri]

Thanks to Rafael Zanella the article "Setting the HTTP charset parameter" has now been translated into Brazilian Portuguese (language negotiated). [search key: article-o-http-charset]

The Internationalization Core Working Group has published an updated version of the Working Group Note Unicode in XML and other Markup Languages.

This document contains guidelines on the use of the Unicode Standard in conjunction with markup languages such as XML. Major changes since the previous version encompass the alignment with Unicode 5.0 and the discussion of white space handling.

The guidelines are published jointly by the Unicode Technical Committee and the W3C Internationalization Core Working Group.

Editors: Martin Dürst, Asmus Freytag. [search keys: tr-unicode-xml]

The Internationalization Tag Set Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of Best Practices for XML Internationalization. These best practices are a complement to the International Tag Set W3C Recommendation and are written for designers and developers of XML applications, XML content authors as well as users and translators. [search key: tr-i18n-html-tech-lang]

Editors: Yves Savourel, ENLASO Corporation, Diane Stoick, Boeing Corporation. [search keys: tr-bp-xml-i18n]

This document provides best practices related to the practical aspects of specifying language in XHTML/HTML content. Content authors can use these to ensure that their HTML is easily adaptable for an international audience. These best practices are best addressed from the start of content development if unnecessary costs and resource issues are to be avoided later on.

Editor: Richard Ishida. [search keys: tr-i18n-html-tech-lang]

Comments are being sought on this FAQ-based article prior to final release. Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to publish a final version in one to two weeks. [search keys: qa-no-language]

After some research and discussion, the section "Does it work?" was rewritten, with particular emphasis on domain names and phishing in browsers. Some text was also added about how registries deal with phishing.

There were also various changes to the section "Further Reading". [search keys: article-idn-and-iri]

The World Wide Web Consortium today released Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Version 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. Creators of XML content can use the ITS set of elements and attributes to prepare schemas and documents for localization and to internationalize them for a global audience, whether you are creating a new schema or working with an established one. Implementations provided for DTDs, XML Schema and Relax NG can be used with new or existing vocabularies like XHTML, DocBook, and OpenDocument. [search key: tr-its]

These tests check whether a user agent displays IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) as Unicode, punycode or otherwise in the status bar. User agents that try to detect possible homograph attacks do so in different ways. These tests explore some of those approaches. [search key: test-idn-display]

Thanks to Andrew Osobka and Natalia Fabisz the FAQ-based article "Using <select> to Link to Localized Content" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-navigation-select]

Thanks to Andrew Osobka and Natalia Fabisz the article "Serving XHTML 1.0" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: article-serving-xhtml]

Getting Started material: This is a second in a proposed series of pages that will introduce you to key internationalization topics and tasks, and direct you towards articles or resources on the W3C Internationalization subsite that will take you to the next level of understanding.

This document introduces topics related to declaring the human language of your content, and related topics, such as language-based styling, content negotiation, and user navigation.

By Richard Ishida, W3C. [search key: gs-language]

Information about the language in use on a page is important for accessibility, styling, searching, and other reasons. In addition, language information that is typically transmitted between the user agent and server can be used to help improve navigation for users and the localizability of your site. This tutorial will help you take advantage of the opportunities that are available now and in the near future by declaring language information appropriately.

By following this tutorial you should be able to:

• recognize the available alternatives for declaring language, and how they differ,
• understand the difference between metadata about the expected language of the audience and the text-processing language,
• choose the best way of declaring language for your content
• locate information about how to specify language attribute values.

[search keys: tutorial-language-decl]

Thanks to the Tłumaczenia Angielski Team the FAQ-based article "Two-letter or three-letter language codes" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-lang-2or3]

Thanks to the Tłumaczenia Angielski Team the FAQ-based article "Why use the language attribute?" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-lang-why]

Thanks to the Tłumaczenia Angielski Team the FAQ-based article "Ruby" has now been translated into Polish (language negotiated). [search key: qa-ruby]

Comments are being sought on the revised section of this article entitled Does it work? prior to final completion. Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org (subscribe). We expect to publish a final version in one to two weeks. [search keys: article-idn-and-iri]

The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Version 1.0 has advanced to Proposed Recommendation. Comments are welcome through 26 March. Organized by data categories, the ITS set of elements and attributes supports the internationalization and localization of schemas and documents. Implementations are provided for DTDs, XML Schema and Relax NG, and can be used with new or existing vocabularies like XHTML, DocBook and OpenDocument. [search key: tr-its]

The syntax of the code for checking UTF-8 was corrected. An 'x' was added before each hex nummber in the sequence which now reads '\x09\x0A\x0D\'.

The Polish translation was also updated with this fix. [search keys: qa-forms-utf-8]

The Internationalization (I18n) Activity has been renewed, and a new Internationalization Architecture Working Group chaired by François Yergeau (Invited Expert), has been launched. The group is chartered to work on the Character Model Resource Identifiers and Normalization and on Language Tags and Locale Identifiers.

The Internationalization Core Working Group is chaired by Addison Phillips (Yahoo!) and is rechartered to propose and coordinate technology to enable universal and worldwide access to the Web.

The charter of the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) Working Group chaired by Yves Savourel (Enlaso) and the Internationalization Interest Group chaired by Martin Dürst (Invited Expert) have been extended.

The Internationalization Guidelines, Education & Outreach (GEO) Working Group has closed and its work moved to the Core group.

Calls for participation have been issued for the Core Working Group and the Architecture Working Group.

Paolo Baggia of Loquendo has written a short article to describe Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) developments since 2004 related to internationalization. A series of workshops was held, leading to work on requirements for a new version 1.1 of SSML. A first Working Draft of SSML 1.1 was published in January of this year.

Results were updated for new versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera. Changes in behaviour were noted in IE7 and Opera compared to previous tests. [search keys: results-lang-and-cjk-font]

The third workshop aimed at internationalizing the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) was held in Hyderabad, India, on 13-14 January 2007. The summary and the minutes are now available.

This workshop was more narrowly focused than the previous workshops, specifically targeting languages of the Indian subcontinent.

The workshop was a success and the Voice Browser Working Group has started to review the requirements raised during the workshop with a view to improving international support in the SSML specification.

Thanks to Елена Неллсон (Elena Nellson) the FAQ-based article "Document character set" has now been translated into Russian (language negotiated). [search key: qa-doc-charset]

Thanks to Елена Неллсон (Elena Nellson) the article "Character encodings" has now been translated into Russian (language negotiated). [search key: article-O-charset]