W3C International Internationalization / Localization

This page is no longer maintained and may be inaccurate. For more up-to-date information, see the Internationalization Activity home page.

CSS & other style sheets

Level 1 of the CSS style sheet language doesn't have any explicit provisions for styles other than those practised for western, left to right languages. However, most of the formatting properties are neutral with respect to writing direction.

CSS level 2 adds explicit control over writing direction, quotation styles, numbering styles, and other things. HTML 4.0 has its own attributes and elements for writing direction, but CSS2 provides the necessary control for XML documents.

Vertical text, ruby, and additional spacing & line breaking for multilingual documents are on the agenda for the next level of CSS.

DSSSL is an ISO-standard style language, that includes support for international typography. Its complexity and lack of useablity means it is not used on the Web, although ideas from it are incorporated in CSS2.

General information about style sheets can be found in the W3C style area.


W3C Bert Bos, i18n coordinator
Webmaster
Last updated $Date: 2008/05/07 17:34:50 $