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As discussed in http://www.w3.org/International/wiki/Html-bidi-isolation, the dir attribute should start using isolation instead of embedding. There is some additional discussion in https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=18490, but further discussion on isolation for the dir attribute should happen here. The only change that appears to be necessary in the spec is in http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/rendering.html#bidirectional-text, replacing all of the following: ========= address, blockquote, center, div, figure, figcaption, footer, form, header, hr, legend, listing, p, plaintext, pre, summary, xmp, article, aside, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hgroup, main, nav, section, table, caption, colgroup, col, thead, tbody, tfoot, tr, td, th, dir, dd, dl, dt, menu, ol, ul, li { unicode-bidi: isolate; } :matches([dir=ltr i], [dir=rtl i], [dir=auto i]):not(address):not(blockquote ):not(center):not(div):not(figure):not(figcaption):not(footer):not(form ):not(header):not(hr):not(legend):not(listing):not(main):not(p):not(plaintext):not(pre ):not(summary):not(xmp):not(article):not(aside):not(h1):not(h2):not(h3):not(h4 ):not(h5):not(h6):not(hgroup):not(nav):not(section):not(table):not(caption ):not(colgroup):not(col):not(thead):not(tbody):not(tfoot):not(tr):not(td ):not(th):not(dir):not(dd):not(dl):not(dt):not(menu):not(ol):not(ul):not(li) { unicode-bidi: embed; } bdi, bdi:matches([dir=ltr i], [dir=rtl i]), output, output:matches([dir=ltr i], [dir=rtl i]), [dir=auto i] { unicode-bidi: isolate; } bdo, bdo:matches([dir=ltr i], [dir=rtl i]) { unicode-bidi: bidi-override; } bdo[dir=auto i] { unicode-bidi: isolate-override; } ========= with the following: ========= address, blockquote, center, div, figure, figcaption, footer, form, header, hr, legend, listing, p, plaintext, pre, summary, xmp, article, aside, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hgroup, main, nav, section, table, caption, colgroup, col, thead, tbody, tfoot, tr, td, th, dir, dd, dl, dt, menu, ol, ul, li, [dir=ltr i], [dir=rtl i], [dir=auto i], bdi, output { unicode-bidi: isolate; } bdo, bdo[dir=ltr i], bdo[dir=rtl i] { unicode-bidi: bidi-override; } bdo[dir=auto i] { unicode-bidi: isolate-override; } ========= Please note that the above leaves <bdo dir="ltr|rtl"> with unicode-bidi: bidi-override instead of the new unicode-bidi: isolate-override. We could move them too to isolate-override, and it may well be cleaner, but this has not been discussed.
Come to think of it, it would be best to make a small change in the section on the dir attribute itself, http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/dom.html#the-dir-attribute. At the very start, we have the following three paragraphs: ====== The ltr keyword, which maps to the ltr state Indicates that the contents of the element are explicitly directionally embedded left-to-right text. The rtl keyword, which maps to the rtl state Indicates that the contents of the element are explicitly directionally embedded right-to-left text. The auto keyword, which maps to the auto state Indicates that the contents of the element are explicitly embedded text, but that the direction is to be determined programmatically using the contents of the element (as described below). ====== In the first two, the term "directionally embedded" would be best changed to "directionally isolated". In the the third, "explicitly embedded" should be changed to either "directionally isolated" or "explicitly directionally isolated".
Ian, can you please clone this to WHATWG?
(In reply to Aharon Lanin from comment #2) > Ian, can you please clone this to WHATWG? Travis Leithead has cloned it as https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23260
Marking as HTML5 CR blocking, per request of i18n WG: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-admin/2013Oct/0015.html
Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/efbf692e44fa3e6b9d66a0823fc2133ff1d18f1e [Bug 22326] Make the dir attribute use isolation instead of embedding. Fixes https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=22326.
Change is currently under review: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2013Oct/0113.html If approved, it will be cherry-picked to CR branch. Please refer to WHATWG version of this bug (bug 23260) for more technical discussion.
Commit pushed to CR at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/ca1986c79c26e49f7781577021b090df159c4c7a [cgiow] (3) Change how dir='' works, from being an embedding to being an override, for better results on mixed-directionality sites. Fixes W3C HTML5 CR bug 22326: https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=22326 git-svn-id: http://svn.whatwg.org/webapps@8283 340c8d12-0b0e-0410-8428-c7bf67bfef74 (cherry picked from commit a43f5fb21c05c159be980c9567bcaa59a49308f1) (cherry picked from commit cf3f3dbbc3a28e0b6f82d6395427c84b4bf489a8)
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: This is an Editor's Response to your comment. If you are satisfied with this response, please change the state of this bug to CLOSED. If you have additional information and would like the Editor to reconsider, please reopen this bug. If you would like to escalate the issue to the full HTML Working Group, please add the TrackerRequest keyword to this bug, and suggest title and text for the Tracker Issue; or you may create a Tracker Issue yourself, if you are able to do so. For more details, see this document: http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html Status: Accepted Change Description: Folded in Ian's more comprehensive change from the WHATWG spec that updates some descriptions I missed and that additionally changes <bdo dir="ltr|rtl"> to be directionally isolated (to be unicode-bidi: isolate-override instead of unicode-bidi: bidi-override), as further requested. This keeps the behavior of dir consistent across different elements and enhances the usability of bdo under common usage. Rationale: See http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2013Oct/0113.html for full summary.
Note: I just folded in some more of Ian's changes in https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/36b26490d39317e1ad47df1ae14e9fe63b32c2dd .
Commit pushed to CR at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/6d8cb3ddfd7168c3784b33f67a401ffff5d8a861 [giow] (1) Move all requirements about bidi out and just rely on CSS instead. Also, fix the CSS rules for <bdo>. Follow-up changes for W3C HTML5 CR bug 22326. Fixing https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23260 Affected topics: HTML, Rendering git-svn-id: http://svn.whatwg.org/webapps@8317 340c8d12-0b0e-0410-8428-c7bf67bfef74 (cherry picked from commit f397c78de13607ff21d27e112e4663447672a409) (cherry picked from commit 36b26490d39317e1ad47df1ae14e9fe63b32c2dd)
Thanks Silvia. Looks like you also merged the follow-up commit [1]. I went ahead and ported them both to CR branch [2][3], per discussion on public-html [4]. Aharon, if the i18n WG comes back with any particular modifications for this change as it applies to the W3C spec, feel free raise them here or public-html. [1] https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/734a214dfdee242d3ce37d78b4a3bd94efd9630f [2] https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/6d8cb3ddfd7168c3784b33f67a401ffff5d8a861 [3] https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/5132879fa2c2316fa48b1d1293b8f1805342aa23 [4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2013Dec/0009.html
Commit pushed to CR at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/efbf692e44fa3e6b9d66a0823fc2133ff1d18f1e [Bug 22326] Make the dir attribute use isolation instead of embedding. Fixes https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=22326.