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Subject: RE: DOCBOOK: Re: bidi


I agree with Norm here.  I think the situation is pretty simple.  If we
want to support the Unicode bi-directional algorithm, and do it in the
way that W3C and the Unicode Consortium recommend, then we need the RTL
and LTR common attributes, plus a neutral container like phrase for those
cases where there already isn't a container around the text that needs
the override.  Since we've got the container, it's just a matter of adding
the attributes.

I think the W3C's Unicode in XML reference [1] and Tony Graham's summary
[2] state it pretty well, but a couple of important points are sometimes
overlooked or misunderstood:

-  The explicit markup we would be adding is a supplement to the implicit
   directionality of Unicode text.  The bidi algorithm does most of its
   work using the directionality of the text itself, and only needs the
   explicit markup for exceptions.
-  This is specifically a Unicode algorithm.  I'm sure there are algorithms
   that are used with other code sets (and maybe this markup would work for
   them, too), but this is specifically for Unicode.  I don't think this
   should concern us, but we shouldn't expect this algorithm or the markup
   to work with other code sets. 

Dick Hamilton

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/unicode-xml/#Bidi
[2] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook/200208/msg00190.html
> 
> Having followed the references and dug around a bit, I think we should
> add an attribute to indicate directionality. I see no reason to add an
> explicit "bidi" element as we already have a suitable container
> (phrase).
> 
> Paul, you suggest that we add it to "phrase", but I think it might be
> more appropriate to simply make it a common attribute. I don't see why
> one might not wish to indicate that a paragraph or blockquote or even
> a table should be in a specific direction.
> 
>                                         Be seeing you,
>                                           norm


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