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The W3C Internationalization (I18n) Activity works with W3C working groups and liaises with other organizations to make it possible to use Web technologies with different languages, scripts, and cultures. 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.
What the W3C Internationalization Activity does
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Article published: Typographic character units in complex scripts
CSS defines the typographic character unit as a basic unit of text for use with editing operations, however the meaning of that term can vary according to the operation, and there are issues in working with such units in complex scripts. In this article we look at examples of some of those differences and issues.
For review: Use cases for bidi and language metadata on the Web
The article Use cases for bidi and language metadata on the Web is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Thursday 11 March.
The W3C Internationalisation Working Group recommends that data formats and string data are always associated with information about text direction and language. This is to ensure that the data can be correctly managed when displayed to a user. This article explores use cases that substantiate the need for this type of information.
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.)
For review: Typographic character units in complex scripts
The article Typographic character units in complex scripts is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Thurday 25 February.
CSS defines the typographic character unit as a basic unit of text for use with editing operations, however the meaning of a that term can vary according to the operation, and there are issues in working with such units in complex scripts. In this article we look at examples of some of those differences and issues.
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.)
6 Gap-analysis First Public Working Drafts published
The W3C Internationalization Activity has just published First Public Working Drafts for 6 more documents that explore gaps in language support on the World Wide Web.
- Adlam Gap Analysis
- Hebrew Gap Analysis
- German Gap Analysis
- French Gap Analysis
- N’Ko Gap Analysis
- Osage Gap Analysis
These drafts complement the 21 Gap-analysis documents published last June.
We are looking for expert contributors who can help us move this work forward by answering questions, documenting other gaps in support, and creating tests. For more information about the program, see this 15 minute overview (slides), and see the Language Enablement overview page.
For review: Update to Character Model for the World Wide Web: String Matching
The Editor’s Draft of the Working Group Note “Character Model: String Matching” is out for wide review. We are looking for comments by Wednesday, 21 October.
The Character Model series of documents contains background material, best practices, and recommendations for specification authors, implementers, and content authors related to the use of character encodings and Unicode on the Web. The “String Matching” document deals with specifying content restrictions and the matching of identifiers in protocols and document formats for W3C specifications.
The new revision adds two new terminology definitions (“application internal identifiers”, “user-facing identifiers”) and a new section targeted to specification authors on “Specifying Content Restrictions” (Section 3.1). The Working Group would like comments about these specific changes; comments about other aspects of the document are also welcome.
Please send any comments as github issues.
New i18n tests & results: CSS Logical
The CSS Logical Properties and Values spec allows authors to specify margins, captions, etc. using declarations that are valid without change whether text is horizontal LTR or RTL, or vertical LR/RL. Values have names such as -start/-end, rather than -left/-right.
These new tests look at support for values in RTL and vertical LR/RL contexts. They cover block size, margins, padding, border width/style/color/radius, caption side, & floats.
The test results, and links to the tests themselves, can be found at
https://w3c.github.io/i18n-tests/results/css-logical.html
Requirements for Japanese Text Layout updated (JLReq) 日本語組版処理の要件を更新しました
An editorial update of Requirements for Japanese Text Layout has been published. The key changes include the following:
- Fixes for various errata, and improved wording in a number of locations.
- Merge of English and Japanese versions into a single document, with switches that allow readers to view the text in either language, or both. A particular language can also be requested via the URL (for example, like this: English, Japanese).
- Assignment of link targets to each list item and note, making it possible to point into the document in a more fine-grained way.
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編集上の修正を行った日本語組版処理の要件を公開しました。主要な変更点は以下の通りです。
・いくつかの誤りを訂正し、多くの箇所の表現を改善しました。
・日本語・英語版を単一ページに統合し、読者が各言語単独または両方を含む形で表示できるようにしました。(英語もしくは日本語表示のように)各言語単独で表示するURLも利用可能です。
・文書中の各リスト項目とノートにリンクアンカーを追加し、より細かく文書の特定箇所へリンクできるようになりました。
For review: Rules for Simple Placement of Japanese Ruby
In preparation for publication as a Working Group Note, we are seeking wide review of the document Rules for Simple Placement of Japanese Ruby. We are looking for comments by Friday 26 July.
The Japanese layout requirements document describes some complex aspects of ruby handling, and frequently offers alternative possible approaches. This document provides a single, simple set of rules for placement of Ruby text in Japanese typography which can be used as a minimal baseline by implementers and spec developers.
Please send any comments as github issues.
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/
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