Re: Proposal for isolation characters in Unicode and the unicode-bidi:isolate and unicode-bidi:plaintext definitions

This is a rather overdue update on Unicode isolates (that I probably should
have sent before going on vacation for the past couple of weeks).

All the news is great!

The UTC is enthusiastic and proceeding with the proposal on the fastest
track possible. While the actual four new codepoints will not be available
until Unicode 7.0 (although their locations have already been reserved as
proposed and the appropriate sync initiated with ISO), the four new bidi
character classes necessary for isolates (or, more likely, a new
extended-bidi-class property, whose domain is the old one plus the four new
values) should become available in 6.2.1, along with the changes in the UBA
to support them. Some Microsoft engineers and I have been tasked with
drafting a unified new version of UAX#9 that includes (and works out the
interaction between) both isolates and Microsoft's "BPA" (bidi parantheses
algorithm), so that it can be discussed and (hopefully) approved for 6.2.1.
Similarly, a new matching version of the reference implementation of the
UBA will be developed in the same timeframe.

The editor of the relevant CSS specs (Writing Modes Level 3 and Text Level
3) have already met and worked out the disparity between CSS and Unicode
isolates. That is, the editor's latest draft of these specs has already
been modified so that unicode-bidi:isolate, unicode-bidi:plaintext, and
unicode-bidi:isolate-override definitions match the behavior of the
proposed Unicode isolates (including a paragraph break inside an isolate
breaking the paragraph surrounding the isolate), and will be further
modified to be completely defined in terms of the new isolate-related bidi
classes when these actually become available. The CSS specs are not
expected to have reached the completely frozen "Recommendation" stage
before 6.2.1 is out.

In other words, I am very happy :-)

Aharon


On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 4:34 AM, Aharon (Vladimir) Lanin
<aharon@google.com>wrote:

> I have now officially submitted the July 24th draft to the UTC. I am
> attaching a PDF. (The one you get online, using File > Download as > PDF,
> is not quite right.)
>
> Aharon
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Aharon (Vladimir) Lanin <
> aharon@google.com> wrote:
>
>> The new version of the Unicode isolates proposal is now available. As
>> before, it is at http://goo.gl/K6qtV; the old version has moved to a new
>> address one can find in the document history section of the current
>> document.
>>
>> I have not yet officially submitted this to the UTC; I will do so in the
>> next couple of days.
>>
>> Happy reading...
>>
>> Aharon
>>
>
>