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Subject: Re: [dita-translation] Changes to documentation of xml:lang and translateattributes
Hi Gershon,
It appears I was not yet approved to send to the DITA Subcommittee list, so
my mail did not go through. It should go through this time, but many of you
will get this twice. I did make an update to the first point, but the
others are the same.
I think it looks good, I just wanted to clarify a few points:
> 1. For translate, it says that the default is no. I just wanted to
clarify
> that this is a processing default, rather than one set in the DTD or
> Schema. If the value for every element is defaulted to "no" in the
> doctype, then when you read the file in to a parser it will appear
> that the value is set everywhere. So, this would prevent the value
> from inheriting.
Looking at this again - I think that "boolean: no" is just a reflection of
what's in the DITA Spec's source (meaning no default), and not an
indication that translate has a default value. Is that correct? The rest of
my email is the same as the one sent a few minutes ago.
2. For the first sentence of the xml:lang description, we should indicate
that it is not only for the language, it also sets the locale. I'd suggest
either
"Specifies the locale of the element content."
or
"Specifies the language and locale of the element content."
I realize that the current spec only uses the term language. I think this
has led to some confusion in the past.
3. For xml:lang, I do not think that the spec should explicitly designate
that the default is English. This should probably be up to the tools. The
DITA Open Toolkit sets the default language with a parameter in the
stylesheets, so that it is possible for users to change the default if
needed. If we do want to suggest a default, then how about something like
"When no xml:lang value is supplied and no external method is used to set a
default, the default value of English is assumed."
I also realize that the current spec already specifies a default of
English, but I've heard people express the desire to set a different
default when authoring in another language.
4. I am not sure what is meant by this:
"A list of supported values is given in xml:lang values."
The current spec references ISO-3166 for Country Codes and RFC 3066 for
Language Codes. Different applications (as well as different
specializations) may choose to support only a subset of all languages (for
example, the DITA toolkit supports only 47 of the defined locales, and
warns if users specify values it does not support). Since DITA was
developed, the toolkit has added support for two additional locales (be-by
and uk-ua). If we continue to reference the authoritative sources, then our
description will remain current and correct at all times, even as new
locales are created and new tool support is added.
Thanks-
Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
"Gershon L
Joseph"
<gershon@tech-tav To
.com> <dita-translation@lists.oasis-open.
org>, <mambrose@sdl.com>,
03/02/2006 01:22 <pcarey@lexmark.com>,
PM <rfletcher@sdl.com>,
<bhertz@sdl.com>, "'Richard
Ishida'" <ishida@w3.org>,
Please respond to <tony.jewtushenko@productinnovator.
gershon com>, <patrickk@scriptware.nl>,
"'Lieske, Christian'"
<christian.lieske@sap.com>,
"'Jennifer Linton'"
<jennifer.linton@comtech-serv.com>,
<Sukumar.Munshi@lionbridge.com>,
Charles Pau/Cambridge/IBM@Lotus,
<dpooley@sdl.com>,
<Peter.Reynolds@lionbridge.com>,
"'Felix Sasaki'" <fsasaki@w3.org>,
"'Yves Savourel'"
<ysavourel@translate.com>, Dave A
Schell/Raleigh/IBM@IBMUS, "'Bryan
Schnabel'"
<bryan.s.schnabel@tek.com>
cc
Subject
[dita-translation] Changes to
documentation of xml:lang and
translate attributes
Hi all,
In light of feedback we received from Felix, I'd like to propose the
following documentation changes for the translate and xml:lang attributes,
to keep the DITA spec synchronized with the W3C ITC spec on the use of
these
attributes.
Name: translate
Description: Indicates whether the content of the element should be
translated or not. The translate attribute setting applies to the element
on
which it is set, and is inherited by all child elements that do not specify
the translate attribute. The translate attribute does not indicate whether
attribute values of the element and its children should be translated;
attribute values should never be translated.
Data Type: yes | no
Default Value: boolean: no
Required: #IMPLIED
Name: xml:lang
Description: Specifies the language of the element content. When no
xml:lang
value is supplied, the default value of English is assumed. For example, if
there is a note element with the attribute xml:lang set to the value
"es-es," then the label on the note, which is normally output as "Note" is
now output in Spanish as "Nota." A list of supported values is given in
xml:lang values. The xml:lang attribute setting applies to the element on
which it is set, and is inherited by all child elements that do not specify
the xml:lang attribute. The xml:lang attribute does not indicate a language
for attribute values of the element and its children; attribute values
should never be translated. [Question: Does this mean that DITA attribute
values can only be English? Or if the document element specifies xml:lang,
should attribute values then use that setting and not English?]
Data Type: NMTOKEN
Default Value: boolean: no
Required: #IMPLIED
Feedback anyone? I'd like us to approve our changes to the documentation of
these attributes at the Monday meeting, so we can deliver our documentation
change request to the DITA TC next week.
Best Regards,
Gershon
---
Gershon L Joseph
Member, OASIS DITA and DocBook Technical Committees
Director of Technology and Single Sourcing
Tech-Tav Documentation Ltd.
office: +972-8-974-1569
mobile: +972-57-314-1170
http://www.tech-tav.com
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