Analysing Support for Text Layout on the Web

The primary mission of the W3C Internationalization work, and of the W3C itself, is to create a Web for All. A particular area of interest and focus for the W3C is styling the layout of content, in web pages and in digital publishing. Much of this can be addressed in CSS, but there are other technologies that also need to take such factors into account, such as Timed Text, WebVTT, SVG, XSL, and to some extent markup models such as HTML, etc. It is particularly concerned with the mechanics of text, such as rules for line-breaking & justification, local approaches to expressing emphasis or decorating text, localising counter styles, supporting bidirectional text in markup, initial-letter styling, hyphenation, page layout, etc.

Recently the W3C has been making additional efforts to better understand the needs of the various writing systems and cultures around the world, and communicate those to specification and browser developers. This talk will look at some of the things that are currently in progress or beginning, as well as possible future directions.