Internationalization (i18n)

Making the World Wide Web worldwide!


News by category
News archives
July 2011 (13)
July 2009 (10)
June 2009 (10)
June 2008 (13)
Search news

The W3C Internationalization (I18n) Activity works with W3C working groups and liaises with other organizations to ensure Web technologies work for everyone, regardless of their language, script, or culture.

From this page you can find articles and other resources about Web internationalization, and information about the groups that make up the Activity.
Read also about opportunities to participate and fund work via the new Sponsorship Program.

News

3 FPWDs for language requirements

Following on from the publication of gap-analyis documents as FPWD, three more documents have been published as FPWD that contain information about how Tamil, Mongolian, and Tibetan orthographies work. These documents are intended to support the gap-analysis work.

Tamil Layout Requirements
https://www.w3.org/TR/ilreq-taml/

Mongolian Layout Requirements
https://www.w3.org/TR/mlreq/

Requirements for Tibetan Text Layout and Typography
https://www.w3.org/TR/tlreq/

21 Gap-analysis First Public Working Drafts published

The W3C Internationalization Activity has just published First Public Working Drafts for 21 documents that explore gaps in language support on the Worldwide Web. Some of these documents are from individual contributors, whereas others are the result of work in a language enablement task force. The list below points to the location of the FPWD and also to the relevant group home page or to the relevant GitHub repository where the work was done.

We are looking for expert contributors who can help us move this work forward by answering questions, documenting gaps in support, and creating tests. For more information about the program, see this 15 minute overview (slides).

Arabic & Persian Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/alreq-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/alreq/

Chinese Layout Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/clreq-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/clreq/

Ethiopic Layout Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/elreq-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/elreq/

Dutch Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/latn-nl-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/eurlreq/

Georgian Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/geor-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/eurlreq/

Modern Greek Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/grek-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/eurlreq/

Hungarian Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/latn-hu-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/eurlreq/

Bengali Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/beng-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/iip/

Devanagari Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/deva-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/iip/

Gurmukhi Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/guru-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/iip/

Gujarati Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/gujr-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/iip/

Tamil Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/taml-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/iip/

Japanese Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/jpan-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/jlreq/

Inuktitut & Cree Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/cans-iu-cr-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/amlreq/

Cherokee Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/cher-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/amlreq/

Lao Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/laoo-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/sealreq/

Khmer Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/khmr-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/sealreq/

Javanese Script Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/java-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/sealreq/

Thai Script Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/thai-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/sealreq/

Mongolian Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/mong-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/mlreq/

Tibetan Gap Analysis
https://www.w3.org/TR/tibt-gap/
https://github.com/w3c/tlreq/

New First Public Working Draft: Rules for Simple Placement of Japanese Ruby

The Internationalization Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of Rules for Simple Placement of Japanese Ruby. This document provides a simple set of rules for placement of ruby text in Japanese typography that can be used as a minimum baseline for implementers and specification writers. It was developed by the JLReq (Japanese Layout) Task Force as a companion to Requirements for Japanese Text Layout 日本語組版処理の要件(日本語版).

Ruby is the name given to the small annotations in Japanese content that are rendered alongside base text, usually to provide a pronunciation guide, but sometimes to provide other information.

New translations into French, Italian, & Spanish

French

Italian

Spanish

These articles were translated thanks to Ibidem Translations.

Article published: Internationalization tips for linking to headings & figures

If you are linking to headings and figures for a page that will be translated into another language, or for a multilingual page, this article looks at things you need to bear in mind and provides markup templates that will be helpful.

Read the article.

For review: Internationalization tips for linking to headings & figures

The article Internationalization tips for linking to headings & figures is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Tuesday 6 July.

If you are linking to headings and figures for a page that will be translated into another language, or for a multilingual page, this article looks at things you need to bear in mind and provides markup templates that will be helpful.

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

New translations into French

These articles were translated into French thanks to Jean-Christophe Helary, of K.K. DOUBLET.

New translations into French

These articles were translated into French thanks to Jean-Christophe Helary, of K.K. DOUBLET.

First Public Working Draft, “Strings on the Web: Language and Direction Metadata “

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

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

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

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

Comments Off on First Public Working Draft, “Strings on the Web: Language and Direction Metadata “

New resource: Short i18n review checklist

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

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

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


Copyright © 2026 World Wide Web Consortium.
W3C® liability, trademark and permissive license rules apply.

Questions or comments? xfq@w3.org