2 When Designing an XML Application
Designers and developers of XML applications should take into account the following best practices:
| Best Practice | Implementing as a new feature | Handling legacy markup |
|---|
| Defining markup for natural language labelling | Make sure the xml:lang attribute is defined for the root element of your document, and for any element where a change of language may occur. | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:langRule element to specify what attribute or element is used instead of xml:lang. |
| Defining markup to specify text direction | Make sure the its:dir attribute is defined for the root element of your document, and for any element that has text content. | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:dirRule element to associate the different directionality indicators with their equivalents in ITS. |
| Avoiding translatable attribute values | Make sure you store all translatable text as element content, not as attribute values. | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:translateRule element to specify what attributes are translatable. |
| Indicating which elements and attributes should be translated | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:translateRule elements to indicate which elements have non-translatable content. |
| Defining markup to override translate information |
Make sure the its:translate attribute is defined for the root element of your documents, and for any element that has text content. It is also recommended that you define the its:rules element in your schema, for example in a header if there is one, and within that the its:translateRule element. Content authors can then use these elements to globally change the default translate rules for specific elements and attributes.
| Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:translateRule element to associate this mechanism with the ITS Translate data category. |
| Providing
information related to text segmentation | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:withinTextRule elements to indicate which elements should be treated as either part of their parents, or as a nested but independent run of text. By default, element boundaries are assumed to correspond to segmentation boundaries. |
| Defining markup for ruby text | Make sure the its:ruby element and its children are defined for all elements where there is text content. | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:rubyRule element to associate your ruby markup with its equivalent in ITS. |
| Defining markup for notes to localizers |
Make sure the attributes its:locNote, its:locNoteType and its:locNoteRef are defined in your schema. This markup allows content authors to provide localization-related notes as its:locNote attribute values, or to point to the location of the relevant note text using its:locNoteRef. It is also recommended that you define the its:rules element in your schema, for example in a header if there is one, and within that the its:locNoteRule element and its related markup. Content authors can use this markup to specify localization-related notes. Within the its:locNoteRule element, notes can be stored in the its:locNote element.
| Provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:locNoteRule element to associate your notes markup with its equivalent in ITS. |
| Defining markup for unique identifiers | Make sure that elements with translatable content can be associated with a unique identifier. |
| Identifying terminology-related elements | Provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:termRule elements to indicate which elements are terms and information related to them (e.g. definitions). |
| Defining markup for specifying or overriding terminology-related information |
Make sure the its:term and the its:termInfoRef attributes are defined for any element that has text content. It is also recommended to define the its:rules element in your schema, for example in a header if there is one. The its:rules element provides access to the its:termRule element which can be used to override terminology-related information globally.
|
| Working with multilingual documents | For documents that need to go through some localization tasks, always store the localized version of the text in a separate document. |
| Naming elements and attributes |
Make sure the names of the elements and attributes of your schema reflect their functions, rather than one possible way of rendering their content. Also, if possible, avoid element names which do not follow a fixed naming scheme (for example, element names that serve also as identifiers).
| Not applicable |
| Defining a span-like element | Make sure you define a span-like element in your schema that will allow authors to associate arbitrary content with properties such as directionality, language information, etc. | If no span-like element already exists in your schema, you may be able to use its:span. |
| Documenting internationalization and localization features of your schema | Make sure you document the internationalization and localization aspects of your schema by providing a set of relevant ITS rules in a single standalone ITS Rules document. |
Where it says "How to implement this as a new feature", this section describes how to create new schemas or add new features to existing schemas. When doing this you may need to take into account the following:
Think twice before creating your own schema. Seriously consider using existing formats such as DITA, DocBook, Open Document Format, Office Open XML, XML User Interface Language, Universal Business Language, etc. Those formats have many useful insights already built in.
Check carefully whether an existing format comes with a built-in capability for modification. DocBook and DITA, for example, come with their own set of features for adapting their format to special needs.
The modification mechanisms available will depend on the schema language (DTD, XML Schema, RELAX NG, etc.) For example, namespace-based modularization of schemas is difficult to achieve with DTDs.
NVDL is an example of a meta-schema language was designed especially
to allow integration of several existing vocabularies into a single XML
vocabulary without the need to know the details of source schemas. This means
that with NVDL you can usually create a schema for compound documents
more easily than with other schema technologies.
Each schema language provides different ways of extending or modifying existing schemas. Some examples are the include, import or redefine mechanisms in XML Schema.
Some processors do not implement support for all schema language constructs, due to erroneous implementations or differences in conformance profiles (e.g. see the conformance requirements to XML Schema
part 1). Therefore a schema which works in one environment may not work in a different one.
What is possible also depends on the features of the schema which the modification is targeting. For example:
An XML Schema redefine is only possible if the modified schema has been created with named types.
If you are working with XML Schema, you can only apply the technique of 'chameleon' or 'proxy' schemas (see http://www.xfront.com/ZeroOneOrManyNamespaces.html) if the 'chameleon' schemas have no namespace. For example, the XML Schema document for ITS XML Schema document for ITS has a target namespace and therefore cannot be a 'chameleon' schema.
Note: The considerations above are only a portion of what you need to take into account. You need to know a lot more when diving into schema modularization.
Provide a way for authors to specify the natural language of content using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in an ITS
Rules document.
The XML namespace provides the xml:lang attribute and the ITS Language Information data category provides the its:langRule element to address this requirement.
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure the xml:lang attribute is defined for the root element of your document, and for any element where a change of language may occur.
For examples of how to add attributes in your existing schema see Section 4.2: Example of adding an attribute to an existing schema.
Some XML documents may be designed to store data without natural language content. In these cases, there is no need for the xml:lang attribute.
The scope of the xml:lang attribute applies to both the attributes and the content of the element where it appears, therefore one cannot specify different languages for an attribute and the element content. ITS does not provide a remedy for this. Instead, it is recommended that you avoid translatable attributes.
Make sure that the definition of the xml:lang attribute allows for empty values. That is:
In a DTD you must not use NMTOKEN as the data type, instead use CDATA.
In XML Schema the built-in data type language does not allow empty values. However, the declaration for xml:lang in the XML Schema document for the XML namespace at http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd does allow for empty values and therefore can be used.
It is not recommended to use your own attribute or element to specify the language of the content. The xml:lang attribute is supported by various XML technologies such as XPath and XSLT (e.g. the lang() function). Using something different would diminish the interoperability of your documents and reduce your ability to take advantage of some XML applications.
Note: If you need to specify language as data or meta-data about something external to the document, do it with an attribute different from xml:lang. For more information see the article xml:lang in XML document schemas.
In XHTML the language of a file linked with the a element is indicated with a hreflang attribute because it does not apply to the content of the a element.
<a xml:lang="en" href="german.html" hreflang="de">Click here for German</a>
If you have different languages in the attribute values and content of an element, consider nesting elements, if possible. See Handling attribute values and element content in different languages.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with an existing schema where there is a way to specify content language that uses something other than the xml:lang attribute (but still uses the same values as xml:lang), you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:langRule element to specify what attribute or element is used instead of xml:lang.
In this document the langcode element is used to specify the language of the text element. The langcode element has no inheritance behavior equivalent to the one of xml:lang.
<myRes>
<messages>
<msg id="1">
<langcode>en</langcode>
<text>Cannot find file.</text>
</msg>
<msg id="2">
<langcode>fr</langcode>
<text>Fichier non trouvé.</text>
</msg>
</messages>
</myRes>
[Example's source code]
The corresponding ITS Rules document contains an its:langRule element that specifies that the langcode element holds the same values as the xml:lang attribute and applies to the text element.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:langRule selector="//text[../langcode]" langPointer="../langcode"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
Information about the language of content can be very important for correctly rendering or styling text in some scripts, applying spell-checkers during content authoring, appropriate selection of voice for text-to-speech systems, script-based processing, and numerous other reasons. You must provide a standard way to specify the language for the document as a whole, but also for parts of the document where the language changes.
Provide a way for authors to specify the direction of text using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in an ITS Rules
document.
In scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew characters may run from both left to right and right to left when displayed. Directional markup allows you to manage the flow of characters. For an example of how directional markup is used see Creating (X)HTML Pages in Arabic & Hebrew.
The ITS Directionality data category provides the its:dir attribute and the its:dirRule element to address this requirement.
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure the its:dir attribute is defined for the root element of your document, and for any element that has text content.
For examples of how to add attributes in your existing schema see Section 4.2: Example of adding an attribute to an existing schema.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with an existing schema where there is a way to specify text directionality that is not implemented using the its:dir attribute, you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:dirRule element to associate the different directionality indicators with their equivalents in ITS.
In this document the textdir attribute is used to specify directionality of a text run.
<text xml:lang="en">
<body>
<par>In Hebrew, the title
<quote xml:lang="he" textdir="r2l">פעילות הבינאום, W3C</quote>
means <quote>Internationalization Activity, W3C</quote>.</par>
</body>
</text>
Note: This example shows the directionality of the source text correctly. This is to ensure that you understand the concepts being described. For such display, you need a sophisticated editor that resolves directionality of the source text correctly. Many editors are not yet this sophisticated. See the related discussion about Problems with bidirectional source text in [Bidi in X/HTML].
[Example's source code]
The corresponding ITS Rules document contains a set of its:dirRule elements that specifies the relationships between the textdir attribute and the ITS Directionality data category.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:dirRule selector="//*[@textdir='l2r']" dir="ltr"/>
<its:dirRule selector="//*[@textdir='r2l']" dir="rtl"/>
<its:dirRule selector="//*[@textdir='lro']" dir="lro"/>
<its:dirRule selector="//*[@textdir='rlo']" dir="rlo"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
Generally the Unicode bidirectional algorithm will produce the correct ordering of mixed directionality text in scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew. Sometimes, however, additional help is needed. For instance, in the sentence of Example 4 the 'W3C' and the comma should appear to the left side of the quotation. This cannot be achieved using the bidirectional algorithm alone.
The following will display incorrectly, since no directional markup has been used:
The title says "פעילות הבינאום, W3C" in Hebrew.
The text 'W3C' and the comma should be to the left of the quoted Hebrew text. If your browser supports bidirectional display, the following should appear correctly, since directional markup has been added to the element surrounding the quote:
The title says "פעילות הבינאום, W3C" in Hebrew.
The desired effect can be achieved using Unicode control characters, but this is not recommended (See Unicode in XML and other Markup Languages [Unicode in XML]). Markup is needed to establish the default directionality of a document, and to change that where appropriate by creating nested embedding levels.
Markup is also occasionally needed to disable the effects of the bidirectional algorithm for a specified range of text.
Do not define attribute values that will contain user readable content. Use elements
for such content.
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure you store all translatable text as element content, not as attribute values.
It is bad design to use the desc attribute to store the alternate descriptive text for the image element, as in this example.
<image src="elephants.png" desc="Elephants bathing in the Zambezi River."/>
Instead, define the content of image itself to hold the text you need. This way there is no translatable text in an attribute.
<image src="elephants.png">Elephants bathing in the Zambezi River.</image>
Note: In many cases, using translatable element content instead of translatable attributes will result in one sentence being embedded within another one. For instance, in Example 5 the description of the image will be embedded inside the text of the paragraph that contains it. In such cases, do not forget to declare the relevant element (here image) as 'nested', as described in Best Practice 6: Providing
information related to text segmentation.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with an existing schema where there are attributes with translatable values, you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:translateRule element to specify what attributes are translatable. See Best Practice 4: Indicating which elements and attributes should be translated for more information about how to do this.
Why do this
There are a number of issues related to storing translatable text in attribute values. Some of them are:
The language identification mechanism (i.e. xml:lang) applies to both the content and to the attribute values of the element where it is declared. If the text of an attribute is in a different language than the text of the element content, one cannot set the language for both correctly.
It may be necessary to apply some language-related properties, such as directionality and language identification, to only part of the text in an attribute value. This requires the use of a span-like element, but elements cannot be used within an attribute value.
It is difficult to apply meta-information, such as no-translate flags, author's notes, etc., to the text of an attribute value
The difficulty of attaching unique identifiers to translatable attribute text makes it more complicated to use ID-based leveraging tools.
It can be problematic to prepare translatable attributes for localization because they can occur within the content of a translatable element, breaking it into different parts, and possibly altering the sentence structure.
All these potential problems are less likely to occur when the text is the content of an element rather than the value of an attribute.
Document in an ITS Rules document which elements and attributes need to be translated, and which
do not, when this differs from the ITS defaults.
The ITS Translate data category provides the its:translateRule element to address this requirement.
How to do this
Provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:translateRule elements to indicate which elements have non-translatable content.
If you are working with a schema where there are translatable attributes (something that is not recommended), you should also use its:translateRule to specify these translatable attributes.
Note: Where the language of content is given as xml:lang="zxx", where zxx indicates content that is not in a language, the element in question is probably not to be translated. You should provide a rule for this.
In the following document, the content of the head element should not be translated, and the value of the alt attribute should be translated. In addition, the content of the del element should not be translated.
<myDoc xml:lang='en'>
<head>
<id xml:lang="zxx">H4-A3-F8-A1</id>
<author>Robert Griphook</author>
<rev>v13 2007-10-27</rev>
</head>
<par>To start click <ins>the <ui>Start</ui>
button</ins><del>green icon</del>
and fill the form labeled by the following icon:
<ref file="vat.png" alt="Value Added Tax Form"/></par>
</myDoc>
[Example's source code]
The following rules specify exceptions from the default ITS behavior for documents like the one above.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:translateRule selector="/myDoc/head" translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//*/@alt" translate="yes"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//del" translate="no" />
<its:translateRule selector="//@*[ancestor::del]" translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//*[lang('zxx')] | //@*[lang('zxx')]" translate="no"/>
</its:rules>First translateRule: The content of head in myDoc is not translatable. By inheritance, the child elements of head are also assumed not translatable.
Second translateRule: All the alt attributes are translatable.
Third translateRule: The content of del is not translatable.
Fourth translateRule: The non-translatability of del applies also to any attribute that may have been set as translatable by a prior rule (i.e. the second rule).
Fifth translateRule: Any element or attribute with their language set to zxx is not translatable.
[Example's source code]
Why do this
By default, ITS assumes that the content of all elements is translatable and that all attributes have non-translatable values. If your XML document type does not correspond to this default assumption it is important to indicate what are the exceptions. Doing so can significantly improve translation throughput.
Provide a way for authors to override translate defaults, using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in
an ITS Rules document.
The ITS Translate data category provides the its:translate attribute and the its:translateRule element to address this requirement.
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure the its:translate attribute is defined for the root element of your documents, and for any element that has text content.
For examples of how to add attributes in your existing schema see Section 4.2: Example of adding an attribute to an existing schema.
It is also recommended that you define the its:rules element in your schema, for example in a header if there is one, and within that the its:translateRule element. Content authors can then use these elements to globally change the default translate rules for specific elements and attributes.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with a schema where there is a way to override translate information that is not its:translate, the authors of the documents should use it. In addition, you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:translateRule element to associate this mechanism with the ITS Translate data category.
For example, DITA offers a translate attribute, and Glade provides a translatable attribute. Both have the same semantics as its:translate, ie. the translation information applies to element content, including child elements, but excluding attribute values.
The following rules indicate how to associate the DITA translate attribute with the ITS Translate data category. The order in which the rules are listed is important:
First translateRule: Indicates that the content of any element with a translate attribute set to no is not translatable.
Second translateRule: Indicates that any attribute value of any element with a translate attribute set to no is not translatable. This is needed because some attributes are translatable in DITA and we need to make sure they are not translated when translate="no" is used in the elements where they are.
Third translateRule: Indicates that the content of any element with a translate attribute set to yes is translatable. This takes care of the cases where translate="yes" is used to override a prior translate="no".
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:translateRule selector="//*[@translate='no']" translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//*[@translate='no']/descendant-or-self::*/@*"
translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//*[@translate='yes']" translate="yes"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
You can find a more complete example of how DITA markup is associated with ITS in Section 5.4.2: Associating existing DITA markup with ITS.
Why do this
In some cases, the author of a document may need to change the translatability property on parts of the content, overriding ITS default behavior, or the general rules for the schema that you have specified when applying Best Practice 4: Indicating which elements and attributes should be translated.
Document in an ITS Rules document how elements should be handled with regard to segmentation.
Segmentation refers to how text is broken down, from a linguistic viewpoint, into units that can be handled by processes such as translation.
The ITS Element Within Text data category provides the its:withinTextRule element to address this requirement.
How to do this
Whether you are creating a new schema or documenting legacy markup, provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:withinTextRule elements to indicate which elements should be treated as either part of their parents, or as a nested but independent run of text. By default, element boundaries are assumed to correspond to segmentation boundaries.
In the following DITA document:
<concept id="myConcept" xml:lang="en-us">
<title>Types of horse</title>
<conbody>
<ol>
<li>Palouse horse:<p><term>Palouse horses</term><fn>A palouse horse
is the same as an <b>Appaloosa</b>.</fn> have spotted coats.
The <term>Nez-Perce</term> Indians have been key in breeding this
type of horse.</p></li>
</ol>
</conbody>
</concept>[Example's source code]
The its:withinTextRule element is used to specify the behavior of three elements, all other elements are assumed to have the value its:withinText="no":
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:withinTextRule selector="//term | //b" withinText="yes"/>
<its:withinTextRule selector="//fn" withinText="nested"/>
</its:rules>
These rules applied to the DITA document above will result in four distinct runs of text:
title: "Types of horse"
li: "Palouse horse:"
p: "{term}Palouse horses{/term}{fn/} have spotted coats. The {term}Nez-Perce{/term} Indians have been key in breeding this type of horse."
fn: "A palouse horse is the same as an {b}Appaloosa{/b}."
[Example's source code]
Why do this
Many applications that process content for linguistic-related tasks need to be able to perform a basic segmentation of the text content. They need to be able to do this without knowing the semantics of the elements.
While in many cases it is possible to detect mixed content automatically, there are some situations where the structure of an element makes it impossible for tools to know for sure where appropriate segmentation boundaries fall. For example, the boundaries of some inline elements, such as emphasis, do not typically correspond to segmentation boundaries; on the other hand, some inline elements embedded in a parent element, such as footnotes or quotations, may define segments that should be handled separately from the text in which they are embedded.
Intelligent segmentation is particularly important in translation to successfully match source text against translation-memory databases.
Provide a way for authors to mark up ruby text using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in an
ITS Rules document.
Ruby text is used to provide a short annotation of an associated base text. It is most often used to provide a reading (pronunciation) guide.
The ITS Ruby data category provides the elements its:ruby and its:rubyRule and their children to address this requirement. The definition of this data category is compliant with the specification of Ruby in [Ruby Annotation].
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure the its:ruby element and its children are defined for all elements where there is text content.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with an existing schema where there is a way to specify ruby text that has the same semantics as the ITS Ruby data category (for example the Ruby Annotation [Ruby Annotation]), you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:rubyRule element to associate your ruby markup with its equivalent in ITS.
In this document, the rubyBlock element has the same functionality as its:ruby, rBase as its:rb, rParen as its:rp, and rText as its:rt.
<text>
<para>この本は <rubyBlock>
<rBase>慶応義塾大学</rBase>
<rParen>(</rParen>
<rText>けいおうぎじゅくだいがく</rText>
<rParen>)</rParen>
</rubyBlock>の歴史を説明するものです。</para>
</text>
[Example's source code]
This its:rubyRule element indicates that the rBase element has the same functionality as its:rb and that the elements its:ruby, its:rt and its:rt have equivalent elements as well.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:rubyRule selector="//rBase" rubyPointer=".."
rpPointer="../rParen" rtPointer="../rText" />
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
Ruby is a type of annotation for text. It can be used with any language, but is very commonly used with East Asian scripts to provide phonetic transcriptions of characters that are likely to be unfamiliar to a reader. For example it is widely used in educational materials and children’s texts. It is also occasionally used to convey information about meaning.
Because ruby annotation may be needed when localizing into Japanese or Chinese, it is a good idea to make provision for it in your schema, even if your original documents are to be developed into a language that does not use such markup.
Provide a way for authors to specify notes for localizers using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in an ITS Rules
document.
The ITS Localization Note data category provides the attributes its:locNote, its:locNoteType and its:locNoteRef, as well as the its:locNoteRule element to address this requirement.
How to implement this as a new feature
Make sure the attributes its:locNote, its:locNoteType and its:locNoteRef are defined in your schema. This markup allows content authors to provide localization-related notes as its:locNote attribute values, or to point to the location of the relevant note text using its:locNoteRef.
For examples of how to add attributes in your existing schema see Section 4.2: Example of adding an attribute to an existing schema.
The its:locNote element specifies that the message with the identifier NotFound has a corresponding explanation note in an external HTML file. The URI for the exact location of the note is stored in the its:locNoteRef attribute.
<myRes>
<head>
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:locNoteRule locNoteType="description"
selector="//msg[@id='NotFound']"
locNoteRef="EX-devlocnotes-4.html#NotFound" />
</its:rules>
</head>
<body>
<msg id="NotFound">Cannot find {0} on {1}.</msg>
</body>
</myRes>[Example's source code]
The HTML file with the localization notes is a simple document with the anchor elements corresponding to the identifiers in the referring XML document.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Localization Notes</title>
</head>
<body lang="en">
<p><a name="NotFound"></a>{0} is a filename<br />
{1} is a directory name</p>
</body>
</html>
[Example's source code]
It is also recommended that you define the its:rules element in your schema, for example in a header if there is one, and within that the its:locNoteRule element and its related markup. Content authors can use this markup to specify localization-related notes. Within the its:locNoteRule element, notes can be stored in the its:locNote element.
The its:locNoteRule element also allows you to specify notes in the current XML document via the locNotePointer attribute, or to provide an existing reference to notes via the locNoteRefPointer attribute.
The its:locNoteRule element associates the content of the its:locNote element with the message that has the identifier 'DisableInfo', and flags it as important. This would also work if the rule was in an external file, allowing content authors to provide notes without modifying the source document.
<myDoc>
<head>
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
version="1.0" its:translate="no">
<its:locNoteRule locNoteType="alert" selector="//msg[@id='DisableInfo']">
<its:locNote>The variable {0} has three possible values: 'printer',
'stacker' and 'stapler options'.</its:locNote>
</its:locNoteRule>
</its:rules>
</head>
<body>
<msg id="DisableInfo">The {0} has been disabled.</msg>
</body>
</myDoc>[Example's source code]
Note: The example includes its:translate="no" in the its:rules tag, to prevent translators from attempting to translate the notes themselves.
Storing notes as element content has advantages over storing notes as its:locNote attribute values: markup for such things as language and directionality can be associated with the text of the content of an element, or parts of the text when a span-like element is also available, but you cannot do these things with attribute text.
Storing notes in an its:locNote element can therefore offer these advantages as long as there is a mechanism to associate the notes with the relevant content. On the other hand, it can be easier to scan documents, in some cases, if the note text is stored in elements or attributes alongside the content it refers to.
Although ITS provides the its:locNote attribute to store note text, offering the possibility of closely associating the note with the relevant content, using this approach makes it difficult to annotate the notes themselves for language, directionality, etc.
It can be argued that notes, being metadata, have different requirements to the content itself. Schema developers should carefully consider which approach to use. If all notes will always be written by English-speaking content developers, it may be acceptable to use attribute values, but if notes may be written by content developers in Arabic or Hebrew, they are almost certainly going to want to use directional markup and span elements in the notes themselves, so an element-based approach would almost certainly be better.
Handling markup not in the ITS namespace
If you are working with an existing schema where there is a way to provide notes to the localizers that is not implemented using ITS, you should provide an ITS Rules document where you use the its:locNoteRule element to associate your notes markup with its equivalent in ITS.
In this document the comment element is a note for its sibling text element.
<messages>
<msg id="ERR_NOFILE">
<text>The file '{0}' could not be found.</text>
<comment>The variable {0} is the name of a file.</comment>
</msg>
</messages>[Example's source code]
The its:locNoteRule element specifies that the text elements have an associated localization description in their sibling comment elements.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:locNoteRule selector="//msg/text" locNoteType="description"
locNotePointer="../comment"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
To assist the translator to achieve a correct translation, authors may need to provide information about the text that they have written. For example, the author may want to do the following:
Tell the translator how to translate part of the content (e.g. "Leave text in uppercase").
Expand on the meaning or contextual usage of a particular element, such as what a variable refers to or how a string will be used on the UI.
Clarify ambiguity and show relationships between items sufficiently to allow correct translation (e.g. in many languages it is impossible to translate the word 'enabled' in isolation without knowing the gender, number and case of the thing it refers to.)
Explain why text is not to be translated, point to text reuse, or describe the use of conditional text.
Indicate why a piece of text is emphasized (important, sarcastic, etc.)
Provide a way for authors to assign unique identifiers to localizable elements.
How to do this
Make sure that elements with translatable content can be associated with a unique identifier.
It is strongly recommended that you define such identifiers as attributes of type ID, following the rules described in xml:id Version 1.0 [xml:id]. This allows XML applications to take advantage of the built-in processes associated with that datatype, such as validation.
It is also recommended that you name such attributes xml:id to increase interoperability.
Note: Unique identifiers are most useful when their values are globally unique (i.e. unique across any documents) and persistent (i.e. ones which do not change over time).
Why do this
In order to most effectively reuse translated text where content is reused (for example across updates) it is necessary to have a unique and persistent identifier associated with the element.
This identifier allows the translation tools to correctly track an item from one version or location to the next. After ensuring that this is the same item, the content can be examined for changes, and if no change has taken place the potential for reuse of the previous translation is very high.
Change analysis of this kind constitutes an extremely powerful productivity tool for translation when compared to typical source matching techniques (a.k.a. translation memory). These techniques simply look for similar source text in a multilingual database without, most of the time, being able to tell whether the context of its use is the same.
Identifiers can also be helpful to track displayed text back to its underlying source. For example, when reviewing a translated user interface, the identifiers can be used as temporary prefixes to the text so that any correction can be efficiently done on the proper strings.
Document in an ITS Rules document what elements are related to terms and term-related information.
The ITS Terminology data category provides the its:termRule element to address this requirement.
How to do this
Provide an ITS Rules document where you use its:termRule elements to indicate which elements are terms and information related to them (e.g. definitions).
Note: The information identified through the its:termInfoRef can be of any type (e.g. human-readable or machine-specific). It is up to the application processing the data to make the distinction.
In this document, the elements term and dt, as well as any element with a syn attribute, denote terms. In addition, they can all have associated information.
<myDoc>
<body>
<p>A <term def="d001" syn="#alterego">doppelgänger</term>
is basically <def xml:id="d001">the counterpart of a
person</def>. It is almost the same as an
<emph syn="#alterego">alter ego</emph>, but with a more sinister
connotation. Sometimes the word <emph syn="#alterego">fetch</emph>
is also used.</p>
</body>
<definitions>
<entry xml:id="alterego">
<dt>alter ego</dt>
<dd>A second self. Figurative sense: trusted friend.</dd>
<origin>Latin, literally: "second I"</origin>
</entry>
</definitions>
</myDoc>
[Example's source code]
The set of ITS rules below indicates:
First termRule: The term element is a term and its associated information can be accessed in the node that has the identifier corresponding to the value in its def attribute.
Second termRule: Any element with a syn attribute is considered a term and the syn attribute contains a URI location where some associated information can be found.
Third termRule: The dt element is a term and its associated information is in its sibling element dd.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:termRule selector="//term" term="yes" termInfoPointer="id(@def)"/>
<its:termRule selector="//*[@syn]" term="yes" termInfoRefPointer="@syn"/>
<its:termRule selector="//dt[../dd]" term="yes" termInfoPointer="../dd"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
The capability of specifying terms within the source content is important for terminology management and beneficial to translation and localization quality. For example, term identification facilitates the creation of glossaries and allows the validation of terminology usage in the source and translated documents.
Term identification is also useful for change management and to ensure source language quality.
Terms may require various associated information, such as part of speech, gender, number, term types, definitions, notes on usage, etc. To avoid associated information to be repeated throughout a document, it should be possible for identified terms to link to externalized attribute data, such as glossary documents and terminology database.
Provide a way for authors to specify or override terminology-related information using ITS markup, or document equivalent legacy markup in
an ITS Rules document.
Avoid document formats that store multiple localized versions of content within the same document.
This best practice refers specifically to situations where copies of the same content are stored in multiple languages in a single document. It is perfectly acceptable to have multilingual text in a document otherwise.
How to do this
For documents that need to go through some localization tasks, always store the localized version of the text in a separate document.
This is an example of bad design. It shows a single document that contains multiple translations of the same content:
<messages>
<msg xml:id='fileNotFound'>
<text xml:lang="en">File not found.</text>
<text xml:lang="fr">Fichier non trouvé.</text>
</msg>
</messages>
[Example's source code]
Instead, use one document for each language. Here one in English, and the other one in French. Other languages would go in similar separate documents.
<messages xml:lang="en">
<msg xml:id='fileNotFound'>
<text>File not found.</text>
</msg>
</messages>
[Example's source code]
<messages xml:lang="fr">
<msg xml:id='fileNotFound'>
<text>Fichier non trouvé.</text>
</msg>
</messages>
[Example's source code]
Note: It is admissible to store multilingual copies of a content in a single document before the document to send to localization, or after all localization tasks are done. For example, a final resource file could be constructed by collating the different language entries.
Note: It is admissible to provide the localizer with multilingual documents in XML formats that are specifically designed for localization, and are industry standards, like the XML Localisation Interchange File Format [XLIFF 1.2].
Why do this
There are two main reasons to avoid sending documents for localization if the source material is located in parallel with the different translations in the same document:
It is difficult to manage concurrent translations in all languages. It is very likely that each translation will be done by a different translator, in a different location. To facilitate this, the document will have to be broken down into separate parts and reconstructed later on. This adds processing time, increases cost and provides more opportunities for the introduction of errors.
Depending on the point in the document's lifecycle, such a document may already contain translations, some up-to-date and some outdated (because the source material may have changed). In order to identify what parts need to be localized and what parts should be left alone, the document would then also need to contain custom information about localization state, which may or may not be supported by localization tools.
Use a meaningful and non-dynamic naming scheme for your elements and attributes.
How to do this
Make sure the names of the elements and attributes of your schema reflect their functions, rather than one possible way of rendering their content.
This is an example of bad design. The element b is used for several purposes.
<doc>
<p>To run the application, click the <b>Start</b> button.</p>
<p><b>Make sure to enter your username</b>, and then
press <b>OK</b>.</p>
</doc>
[Example's source code]
Instead, define different elements based on their functions rather than a pre-supposed rendering.
<doc>
<p>To run the application, click the <ui>Start</ui> button.</p>
<p><emph>Make sure to enter your username</emph>, and then
press <ui>OK</ui>.</p>
</doc>
[Example's source code]
Also, if possible, avoid element names which do not follow a fixed naming scheme (for example, element names that serve also as identifiers).
This is an example of bad design. The names of the elements also serve as text identifiers.
<strings>
<str1>Input path:</str1>
<str2>Help</str2>
<str3>OK</str3>
<str4>Cancel</str4>
</strings>
[Example's source code]
Instead, use elements names that follow a fixed naming scheme, and use xml:id for the identifiers.
<strings>
<str xml:id="str1">Input path:</str>
<str xml:id="str2">Help</str>
<str xml:id="str3">OK</str>
<str xml:id="str4">Cancel</str>
</strings>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
The name of an element should indicate what its function is, not how its content will be presented, because presentation may vary depending on different factors such as language, script, medium, or accessibility.
Using documents where elements or attributes do not follow a predictable naming pattern may cause problems when using XSLT-driven processes. It may also be an issue for translation tools. This is especially true if not all parts of the document are to be translated, since it would be more difficult to specify rules to distinguish the translatable nodes from the non-translatable ones.
Provide a way for authors to annotate arbitrary content using its:span or equivalent markup.
A span-like element is an element that can be used to mark up arbitrary content and associate it with various properties such as directionality or language information. Examples of such an element include the span element in XHTML, or the phrase element in DocBook.
How to do this
Make sure you define a span-like element in your schema that will allow authors to associate arbitrary content with properties such as directionality, language information, etc.
If your schema does not already provide such an element, you could provide the its:span element.
The definition of the its:span element in the ITS Specification lists a set of ITS attributes that should be allowed on a span-like element.
Why do this
Some properties of content are applied using attributes. Directionality, terminology, localization notes, translate information, and language identification are examples of such properties. There is a need for a neutral element to delimit the run of text to which such attributes apply, since the appropriate boundaries are sometimes not delimited by other markup that is present, or perhaps those attributes are not permitted on other markup that is present.
Provide an ITS Rules document containing all the ITS rules needed to interpret legacy markup,
and identify translate, terminology and text segmentation information in your format.
How to do this
Make sure you document the internationalization and localization aspects of your schema by providing a set of relevant ITS rules in a single standalone ITS Rules document.
Your ITS Rules document should include the following information, when applicable:
You can find some examples of ITS Rules documents for existing XML formats in Section 5: ITS Applied to Existing Formats.
Why do this
Although some XML vocabularies are easy to understand or process, it is often helpful or necessary to provide explicit information about a given vocabulary. If such a vocabulary is to be used in a multilingual context, it is of high importance to provide information, such as which elements contain translatable content, because general information on purpose, general structure, and node types very often are not sufficient. In a way, this need for explicit information is related to the general good practice of documenting source code.
In XML it should come naturally to use a well-defined, structured format to capture such information. For information related to internationalization and translation, ITS Rules documents are a good choice for the following reasons:
They are designed to take into account many important aspects of internationalization and translation.
They capture information precisely (for example, selectors identify to which nodes a data category pertains).
They can be processed by ITS-aware applications.
They can be easily combined with additional structured information (e.g. related to version control, as shown in the example below).
An ITS processor should still be able to process a file as an external ITS rules file if the format of the file contains your own customized information in addition to the ITS rules. The following is an example of that.
<myFormatInfo xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its">
<desc>ITS rules used by the Open University</desc>
<hostVoc>http://www.example.com/ns/myFormat</hostVoc>
<rulesId>98ECED99DF63D511B1250008C784EFB1</rulesId>
<rulesVersion>v 1.81 2006/03/28 07:43:21</rulesVersion>
<its:rules version="1.0">
<its:translateRule selector="//header" translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//term" translate="no"/>
<its:termRule selector="//term" term="yes"/>
<its:withinTextRule withinText="yes" selector="//term|//b"/>
</its:rules>
</myFormatInfo>
[Example's source code]
3 When Authoring XML Content
Authors of XML content should consider the following best practices:
A number of these practices can be followed only when the XML application has been internationalized properly using the design guidelines in Section 2: When Designing an XML Application.
Specify the natural language of your content using xml:lang, or an equivalent mechanism provided by your document format.
Your schema should provide the xml:lang attribute (or an equivalent mechanism) for specifying the language of content. See Best Practice 1: Defining markup for natural language labelling for more information.
How to do this
Use xml:lang (or its equivalent in your schema) on the root element of the document, and on each element where the language of the content changes. The elements without declarations inherit the language information from their parents. Attribute values are deemed to be in the same language as the element where they are declared.
Make sure the values of xml:lang conform to Tags for Identifying Languages [BCP 47]. For a brief introduction to how to form language values using BCP 47 see Language tags in HTML and XML.
In this example, the main content of the document is in English, while a short citation in the q element is identified as French using xml:lang set to fr.
<document xml:lang="en">
<para>The motto of Québec is the short phrase:
<q xml:lang="fr">Je me souviens</q>. It is chiseled on
the front of the Parliament Building.</para>
</document>
[Example's source code]
If the schema you are using does not provide an xml:lang attribute, use the equivalent attribute.
In this example, the schema for this document type uses a non-standard way to specify language: a code attribute. Authors should use that mechanism, not xml:lang, because the developer of the stringList document type should provide, along with the schema, an ITS Rules document (shown below) that declares code to be equivalent to xml:lang when used with the lang element.
<stringList>
<msg id="connected">
<lang code="cs">Jste připojeni k Internetu.</lang>
<lang code="de">Sie sind an das Netz angeschlossen.</lang>
<lang code="fr">Vouz êtes connecté à la Toile.</lang>
<lang code="it">Sei connesso al Web.</lang>
<lang code="ja">インターネットに接続しました。</lang>
<lang code="ko">웹에 연결되었습니다.</lang>
<lang code="ru">Вы подключены к Интернету.</lang>
</msg>
</stringList>
[Example's source code]
The developer of the stringList document type should provide an ITS Rules document in compliance with Best Practice 1: Defining markup for natural language labelling for existing schemas. Here the its:langRule element defines the code attribute of the lang element to be equivalent to xml:lang.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:langRule selector="//lang[@code]" langPointer="@code" />
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
Knowing the language of the content is very important in many situations. These include:
Selection of a proper font (e.g. for Traditional or Simplified Chinese.)
Processing of the text for wrapping and hyphenation.
Providing spell-checking or grammar verification of the text.
Selecting proper automated selections of text such as quotation marks or other punctuation signs.
Using the text with voice browsers.
Use dedicated markup to specify the directionality of your text content.
Your schema should provide its:dir (or an equivalent mechanism) to manage directionality. See Best Practice 2: Defining markup to specify text direction.
How to do this
By default the text directionality in an XML document is assumed to be left-to-right. Use its:dir (or its equivalent in your schema) on the root element of any document where the text runs predominantly from right-to-left, and on elements where the Unicode bidirectional algorithm needs help to achieve proper display of bidirectional text.
You can get additional guidance on when and how to use directional markup in Internationalization Best Practices: Handling Right-to-left Scripts in XHTML and HTML Content and What you need to know about the bidi algorithm and inline markup. Although the first of these references is aimed at (X)HTML authors, the advice is generally relevant for authors of most XML-based documents too.
In this example, the attribute its:dir is used to specify the directionality of a right-to-left text run in a document that is by default left-to-right.
<text
xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" xml:lang="en"
its:version="1.0">
<body>
<par>In Hebrew, the title
<quote xml:lang="he"
its:dir="rtl">פעילות הבינאום, W3C</quote>
means <quote>Internationalization Activity, W3C</quote>.</par>
</body>
</text>
[Example's source code]
Without the markup, the Hebrew title will display incorrectly. The text 'W3C' and the comma will be to the right of the quoted Hebrew text, rather than to its left. The markup provides the contextual information that tells the user agent that the comma and 'W3C' text are part of a right-to-left flow of text.
Note: This example shows the directionality of the source text correctly. This is to ensure that you understand the concepts being described. For such display, you need a sophisticated editor that resolves directionality of the source text correctly. Many editors are not yet this sophisticated. See the related discussion about Problems with bidirectional source text in [Bidi in X/HTML].
Why do this
User agents should use the Unicode Bidirectional (bidi) Algorithm and its knowledge of the directional properties of characters to decide whether a sequence of characters should flow to the left or to the right. The bidi algorithm can also handle simple cases where right-to-left and left-to-right text are mixed. However, situations commonly arise where higher level contextual information is needed to achieve the desired layout of bidirectional text. This contextual information can be provided by markup in XML. Such markup also affects page layout behavior. For example, in a right-to-left context, table columns are ordered right-to-left, list bullets appear to the right of text, the page is right-aligned, and so forth.
Note: Directionality information cannot be deduced from language markup:
There is not necessarily a one-to-one match between a given language and what directionality to use. For example, Azerbaijani can be written using both right-to-left and left-to-right scripts, and the language code az is relevant for either.
The values of inline directional markup are not necessarily aligned with the values of markup about the language. For example, a part of a document might be declared as having right-to-left directionality, but there might be only a general language declaration for a left-to-right script language available, like fr.
Markup used to indicate directionality has values that indicate that the normal directionality should be overridden; it is not possible to indicate that using language related values.
Use available markup to specify any content where the choice to translate or not is different
from the default for your schema.
Your schema should provide its:translate (or an equivalent mechanism) to allow you to override defaults. See Best Practice 5: Defining markup to override translate information.
The ITS default is that element content should be translated and attribute content should not. Developers of your schema should also have documented any schema-specific defaults for your document type where these differ from the ITS default.
How to do this
Use its:translate (or its equivalent in your schema) on each element for which the translatability property is different from the defaults set for your schema.
In the following document, although the content of the par elements should normally be translated, in this instance the last par should remain in English. Using its:translate the author can indicate that the last par should not be translated.
Note that the author does not need to specify that the head element should not be translated, because this is defined for all documents of type myDoc by the ITS Rules document provided by the developer of the myDoc schema (see just below).
<myDoc xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" its:version="1.0">
<head>
<lastRev>2007-10-23 041254Z</lastRev>
<docID>1A454AE4-7EB8-4ed2-A58E-1EC7F75BB0D5</docID>
</head>
<par>To apply these terms to you library, attach the following notice.
It is safest to attach it to the start of each source file to most
effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should
have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full
notice is found.</par>
<par>The notice should read (preferably in English):</par>
<par its:translate="no">This library is free software; you can
redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser
General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version. This software is distributed as open source under LGPL.</par>
</myDoc>
[Example's source code]
This is the ITS Rules document created by the developer of the myDoc document type (implementing Best Practice 4: Indicating which elements and attributes should be translated). These rules override the ITS default that all element content should be translated, but attribute values should not.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:translateRule selector="/myDoc/head" translate="no"/>
<its:translateRule selector="//img/@alt" translate="yes"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
This is what the rules mean:
To override translate information for attributes, you have to use an its:translateRule element in your document.
This document is of the same type as the one in Example 21 and uses the same ITS rules, therefore the alt attribute should normally be translated. Because in this specific document the images refer to a user interface that will not be translated (whereas the document will be), the author needs to override the rule that all alt attributes should be translated. This is done at the top of the document, using its:translateRule.
<myDoc xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" its:version="1.0">
<head>
<lastRev>2007-11-12 234503Z</lastRev>
<docID>D1EA7453-DC53-488a-B950-137BE0EF5253</docID>
<its:rules>
<its:translateRule selector="//img[@role='ui']/@alt" translate="no"/>
</its:rules>
</head>
<par>Once you have selected your options, click the
<img xml:lang="en-us" src="runBtn.png" role="ui" alt="Run"/> button
to start the process.</par>
</myDoc>
[Example's source code]
The its:translateRule element says that the alt text of images referring to UI buttons in the document should be left untranslated.
Note: Authors should NOT use its:translate to tag single words or terms that (they think) are likely to remain the same when translated into a given target language (e.g. loan-words). This type of decision is normally made during translation.
Authors may decide what is translatable, but not how to translate it.
This is an example of bad design. In this document its:translate is used to markup a proper name and two loan words in an attempt to indicate that they should not be translated. You should not do this.
<book xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" its:version="1.0">
<body>
<p>Everything started when <span its:translate="no">Zebulon</span>
discovered that he had a <span its:translate="no">doppelgänger</span>
who was a serious baseball <span its:translate="no">aficionado</span>.</p>
</body>
</book>
[Example's source code]
It may, however, be useful to the translator to mark up loan-words or any special words in this example as terms, as described in the section Best Practice 23: Identifying terms.
Why do this
Although the set of ITS rules provided with the schema should specify any exceptions to the default ITS translation rules for a given schema (see Best Practice 4: Indicating which elements and attributes should be translated), there are cases where these general rules need to be overridden for specific elements, in specific documents. It is up to the author of the content to indicate these cases using markup.
Assign a unique identifier to elements that correspond to segmentation boundaries.
Your schema should provide xml:id (or an equivalent mechanism) to allow you to assign unique identifiers to elements. See Best Practice 9: Defining markup for unique identifiers.
Segmentation refers to how text is broken down, from a linguistic viewpoint, into units that can be stored separately and handled by processes such as translation. The schema author ought to create a list of these elements where they differ from the ITS defaults (see Best Practice 6: Providing
information related to text segmentation).
How to do this
Use unique identifiers in the way provided by your schema on each element that constitutes a segmentation boundary.
Note: Often, ids are automatically assigned by authoring or content management applications. Thus, authors may not have to worry about them
in some cases.
If possible use globally unique and persistent values as identifier values.
Why do this
Providing unique identifiers can be very useful for change analysis, text tracking, and various other tasks often utilized during the authoring and the localization of documents.
This is explained in more detail in Best Practice 9: Defining markup for unique identifiers.
Avoid using CDATA sections for content that will be translated.
CDATA sections are often used to place programming code or other special
vocabularies in XML with minimal effort. There are often better ways of including such content.
How to do this
Do not put content that will be translated into CDATA sections.
This is an example of bad design. In this document, part of the content is in a CDATA section. It is no longer possible to mark up that content for language changes, terms, text direction, translate information, or any of the other things that may be needed to facilitate localization.
<myData>
<item course="12" page="2">
<title>Accessing the R&D facilities</title>
<body><![CDATA[The R&D facilities are located in the South wing
of Building 12-W, in the East quarter of the section Q.
IMPORTANT ==> These facilities are accessible only to personal with
Class Omega-45Q1 clearance.]]></body>
</item>
</myData>
[Example's source code]
Instead, use normal XML for your content. This allows you to tag the content as needed. For instance, here the author has added some terminology markup.
<myData xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" its:version="1.0">
<item course="12" page="2">
<title>Accessing the R&D facilities</title>
<body>The R&D facilities are located in the South wing
of Building 12-W, in the East quarter of the section Q.
IMPORTANT ==> These facilities are accessible only to personal with
<span its:term="yes">Class Omega-45-Q1</span> clearance.</body>
</item>
</myData>
[Example's source code]
If the CDATA section encloses a large, self-contained block of data, such as a script or an XML example, you may be able to replace the section by some inclusion mechanism such as XInclude or XLink.
In SVG you can place a script directly into an SVG document, in which case you usually use CDATA sections to avoid having to escape characters in the script's code.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<svg width="6cm" height="5cm" viewBox="0 0 600 500"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1">
<!-- Script is inlined and enclosed in CDATA section -->
<script type="text/ecmascript"> <![CDATA[
function circle_click(evt) {
var circle = evt.target;
var currentRadius = circle.getAttribute("r");
if (currentRadius < 100)
circle.setAttribute("r", currentRadius*2);
else
circle.setAttribute("r", currentRadius*0.5);
}
]]> </script>
<rect x="1" y="1" width="598" height="498" fill="none" stroke="blue"/>
<circle onclick="circle_click(evt)" cx="300" cy="225" r="10"
fill="red"/>
<text x="300" y="480"
font-family="Verdana" font-size="35" text-anchor="middle">
Click on circle to change its size
</text>
</svg>[Example's source code]
Instead, you could use XLink to store the script in a separate file and reference it from the SVG document.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<svg width="6cm" height="5cm" viewBox="0 0 600 500"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<!-- Script is included from external file -->
<script type="text/ecmascript" xlink:href="animate.js"/>
<rect x="1" y="1" width="598" height="498" fill="none" stroke="blue"/>
<circle onclick="circle_click(evt)" cx="300" cy="225" r="10"
fill="red"/>
<text x="300" y="480"
font-family="Verdana" font-size="35" text-anchor="middle">
Click on circle to change its size
</text>
</svg>[Example's source code]
It is quite common to use CDATA sections to put examples of source code into XML documents. The following example shows how to do this using DocBook.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<example xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
<title>Skeleton of XHTML page</title>
<programlisting><![CDATA[<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xml:lang="en">
<head>
<title>… page title goes here …</title>
</head>
<body>
… page content goes here …
</body>
</html>]]></programlisting>
</example>
[Example's source code]
Instead, you could use XInclude to store the example code in a separate file and include it during at processing time. Note that you have to use parse="text" to treat the included file as plain text rather than markup.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<example xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
<title>Skeleton of XHTML page</title>
<programlisting><xi:include href="EX-xhtml-skeleton.xhtml"
parse="text"
encoding="utf-8"/></programlisting>
</example>
[Example's source code]
If you must use CDATA sections:
Document the type of content (for example with an attribute set to the appropriate MIME-type). This may help tools to use an appropriate parser to process the content.
Aim to produce well-formed content. This will allow parsers to process the content more easily.
Note: Using CDATA does not affect whether white-space is preserved or not by XML processors. To preserve white-space use the xml:space attribute with the value preserve.
Why do this
The use of CDATA sections prevents the insertion of markup for internationalization or localization purposes. For example, tags to denote change of directionality, or language, or to add localization notes, cannot be used with the content inside CDATA sections.
Numeric character references and entity references are not supported in CDATA sections either. This could lead to a possible loss of data if the document is converted from one encoding to another, or when translating.
Mixing content in CDATA sections and content not in CDATA sections in the same document causes more work when doing some tasks with non-XML-aware tools. For example, when searching for the text "R&D" the user has to search both for R&D (for the CDATA sections) and R&D (for the normal content).
Use dedicated markup to provide notes where you can communicate useful information for the localizer
Your schema should provide its:locNote, its:locNoteType, and its:locNoteRef (or equivalent mechanisms) to allow you to communicate with those who will localize your content. See Best Practice 8: Defining markup for notes to localizers.
How to do this
Use its:locNote, its:locNoteType and its:locNoteRef (or their equivalents in your schema) to provide notes to the localizer.
This is especially important for content with inserted text where the translator will need context to translate more accurately.
In this document two ITS local attributes are used to annotate an XSLT template:
Note: When working with XSLT, you need to decide whether the ITS markup should be in the output or not, and may have to use different markup accordingly. In this example, the ITS attributes do not appear in the output.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
its:version="1.0">
<xsl:template match="/data">
<xsl:variable name="Lang" select="Lang"/>
<xsl:variable name="EMail" select="EMail"/>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="{$Lang}" lang="{$Lang}">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<title>Login</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Login Into Queztal-Systems</p>
<form method="POST">
<table border="0" id="table2">
<tr><td>First, place your pass card in front of the reader to scan your
<xsl:text its:locNoteRef="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID">RFID</xsl:text>.
When the light turns green, enter your password in the box below, and
click Submit.</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="password" name="pword" size="25"/></td></tr>
</table>
<p><input type="submit" value="Submit" name="go"/></p>
</form>
<p>If you have difficulties login in, please call
<xsl:value-of select="PNum" its:locNote="Toll-free phone number"/>,
or send an email to
<a href="mailto:{$EMail}"><xsl:value-of select="EMail"/></a>.</p>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>[Example's source code]
Why do this
There are many reasons to provide information to localizers. You may want to:
Expand on the meaning or contextual usage of a particular element, such as what a variable refers to or how a string will be used in the user interface.
Clarify ambiguity and show relationships between items sufficiently to allow correct translation. For example, in many languages it is impossible to translate the word "enabled" in isolation without knowing the gender, number and case of the thing it refers to.
Explain why text is not translated, point to text reuse, or describe the use of conditional text.
Indicate why a piece of text is emphasized (important, sarcastic, etc.)
Using XML comments for doing this may not be enough as they may get stripped out or ignored during the localization process.
Make sure that any piece of inserted text is grammatically independent of its surrounding context.
Inserted text refers to any text that is marked by a placeholder in the source XML document and automatically inserted within text content when the document is processed.
Types of inserted text include:
Boilerplate text reused in different contexts.
Various parts of a sentence composed by bringing together separate pieces of text.
Variable placeholders that are replaced by their values when the document is processed.
The implementation of such text can be done in different ways in XML. Some examples are:
How to do this
Use inserted text only when the text is self-contained and does not affect its surrounding context. For example, titles and quotations are inserted text that, usually, would not cause problems.
Avoid using inserted text that has any effect or dependence on the context where it is inserted.
For additional background information about issues and approaches related to text insertion and re-use of text see the articles Working with Composite Messages and Re-using Strings in Scripted Content.
If you do insert text, use its:locNote or its:termInfoRef (or their equivalents in your schema) to provide the localizers with some context. See Best Practice 21: Providing notes for localizers and Best Practice 23: Identifying terms.
In this example, in the first message, the element var is used to insert the name of a printer. In the second example, it is used to insert a filename. The its:locNote attribute is utilized to provide a description of what the variables represent. This may help in deciding how to translate each message.
<strings xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
xml:lang="en" its:version="1.0">
<msg id="pmAdded">The printer <var arg="0" its:locNote="Printer name"/>
has been added to the list.</msg>
<msg id="fmAdded">The file <var arg="0" its:locNote="Filename"/>
has been added to the list.</msg>
</strings>
[Example's source code]
This is a French translation of the document shown above. The context provided allowed to disambiguate the variable and to get a more accurate translation.
<strings xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
xml:lang="fr" its:version="1.0">
<msg id="pmAdded">L'imprimante <var arg="0" its:locNote="Printer name"/>
a été ajoutée à la liste.</msg>
<msg id="fmAdded"><var arg="0" its:locNote="Filename"/>
a été ajouté à la liste.</msg>
</strings>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
If not used properly, inserted text can cause important (and sometimes unresolvable) problems during localization. Consider the following:
This is an example of bad design. In this example, the author, working with the DITA format [DITA 1.0], decided to reference a term in a termbase by using the conref mechanism. In this case, the term t123 in termbase.xml has the value 'hydraulic lift'.
<p>Using a <term conref="termbase.xml#t123"/>, raise the vehicle from the ground.</p>
At a first glance the example above seems to work fine in English. However, such a construction has several problems:
You should not separate the article from the noun. If "hydraulic lift" is independently replaced in the future by some other term, you may need to change the article to 'an' or remove it.
The article/noun separation also causes trouble for the translators. Without any easy way to see the actual term when translating the paragraph, they may not be able to decide the gender or number of the article.
If it is used at the beginning of a different sentence, the term would need to be capitalized.
The term is singular in the termbase, but it may need to be plural somewhere else in the document.
In inflected languages the form required in the text may be different from the form stored in the termbase. For example, in Polish the term would be stored in its nominative form ("dźwignia hydrauliczna"), while it should be in its instrumental form once inserted in this context: "Używając dźwignię hydrauliczną podnieś pojazd z ziemi."
Use dedicated markup to identify any terminology-related content.
What constitutes a term depends on many factors specific to each organization and project. Terms may include for example names of features, programs, services, and so forth. They also may include words or expressions that are specific to the domain to which the content pertains, such as technical terms, or legal terms, and they may include terms that simply occur often and should be translated consistently.
How to do this
Use its:term and its:termInfoRef (or their equivalent in your schema) to mark terms and supply term-related information.
Your schema should provide its:term and its:termInfoRef (or equivalent mechanisms). See Best Practice 11: Defining markup for specifying or overriding terminology-related information.
You should also override default terminology rules as needed.
In this document, terms are normally denoted with a term element. Following Best Practice 10: Identifying terminology-related elements, the developer of the schema has provided an ITS Rules document that defines such property for term.
However, in this specific document, the author wants to indicate the following:
In the first case, the author uses a its:termRule element in the header of the document to indicate that any ui element in this document is a term. This is more efficient than adding an attribute for each instance of ui in the body of the document.
In the second case, because the schema does not allow the element term to be used in title (an oversight of the developer), the author uses a simple span element with its:term and its:termInfoRef to associate Vector Files with its corresponding term information.
<myManual xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" its:version="1.0">
<head>
<its:rules>
<its:termRule selector="//ui" term="yes"/>
</its:rules>
<title>Generating <span its:term="yes" its:termInfoRef="#vFile">Vector
Files</span></title>
</head>
<body>
<par>Select the command <ui>Build Output Files</ui> from the
<ui>Tasks</ui> menu to generate the final <term ref="vFile">vector
files</term>.</par>
</body>
<extra>
<terms>
<termDef xml:id="vFile">A <emph>vector file</emph> is a binary document
that contains the complete set of vectors needed to draw the background
layer of a map.</termDef>
</terms>
</extra>
</myManual>[Example's source code]
This ITS Rules document is the one created by the developer of the myManual document type (in implementing Best Practice 10: Identifying terminology-related elements). It provides one termRule element indicating that any term element is a term and its associated information is located in the element that is identified with the value stored in the ref attribute of term.
<its:rules xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" version="1.0">
<its:termRule selector="//term" term="yes" termInfoRef="id(@ref)"/>
</its:rules>
[Example's source code]
Why do this
If you do not indicate what words are terms of interest in the content, the translators will not know that these terms need to be translated consistently. Often, multiple translators are working on different files in a given project, and the way they choose to translate specific words can be inconsistent with the way that other translators have translated them. If important terms are marked in the content, they can extract these terms from the content before the content is translated, and pre-translate them in the form of a shared electronic dictionary. This ensures consistency of translation of important terms.
While markup denoting terms for a given schema level should be specified in a set of ITS rules provided with the schema (See Best Practice 10: Identifying terminology-related elements), there are cases where these general rules need to be overridden or complemented for specific elements, in specific documents. It is up to the author of the content to provide such overriding markup.
Avoid escaping markup to enable storage of markup from another format.
How to do this
If possible, use the XML namespace mechanism to store different vocabularies inside a single XML document.
In this document, the elements top and body both contain HTML markup coded as text. There is no easy way to make the distinction between the HTML markup and the HTML text content.
<pages>
<row>
<key>ENConvClasses</key>
<top><span class="h1">Elibur Library</span> - Conversation Groups</top>
<body><![CDATA[<p>These small discussion groups meet <b>weekly</b> and are for
people learning English. Each group is led by a volunteer who is a native speaker
of American English. Groups converse about books, articles, and other materials.</p>
<p>Space is limited. Ask for availability to <a href="mailto:enconv@elibur-lib.com">
enconv@elibur-lib.com</a>.</p>]]></body>
</row>
</pages>
[Example's source code]
Instead, use the XML namespace mechanism. Here the content of top and body is now a mix of text and XHTML elements. This avoid any confusion between text and HTML tags.
<pages xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<row>
<key>ENConvClasses</key>
<top><h:span class="h1">Elibur Library</h:span> - Conversation Groups</top>
<body><h:p>These small discussion groups meet <h:b>weekly</h:b> and are for
people learning English. Each group is led by a volunteer who is a native
speaker of American English. Groups converse about books, articles, and
other materials.</h:p>
<h:p>Space is limited. Ask for availability to <h:a
href="mailto:enconv@elibur-lib.com">enconv@elibur-lib.com</h:a>.</h:p></body>
</row>
</pages>
[Example's source code]
Another alternative to using markup as text is to store it externally and include it into the document using a mechanism such as XInclude or XLink.
If you must include markup as text content:
Make sure to document the type of content, for example with an attribute set to the appropriate MIME-type. This may help tools to use a more appropriate parser to process the given content.
Aim at having the content well-formed. This will allow parsers to process it more easily.
Why do this
Some XML documents are used to store different types of data for purposes such as exchange or export. In some cases such data is itself XML data. For example, some XHTML content stored in a database can be exported to an XML container file for localization and re-imported back into the database.
Note: The use of escaping for literal examples of markup is not a problem. The issue is only for large volume of XML/HTML data contained in another XML document.
Storing such XML data inside XML elements as text content (i.e. with its markup tags escaped), has several drawbacks:
Any handling of such content is made difficult by the impossibility to separate text from markup without extra processing.
Often, such content is put in CDATA sections, which has its own set of issues. See Best Practice 20: Avoiding CDATA sections.
The escaped markup cannot be validated.
If there is a process turning markup into escaping, there is the danger of double escaping.