Re: Can we have @lang back in XHTML Family?

XHTML 1.1 / XHTML Basic 1.1 will permit both @lang and @xml:lang.  They 
state that @xml:lang takes precedence, and advises authors to ensure 
that if both are specified they have the same value.  I think from a DOM 
perspective these are NOT the same attributes in XHTML 1.1 / XHTML Basic 
1.1.  I don't think they should be treated specially.  The only reason 
to support this in XHTML 1.1 / XHTML Basic 1.1 today is to increase the 
protability of XHTML content to current HTML user agents.

The ideal solution would be that future versions of HTML include 
"xml:lang" and prefer it - that way documents would just work without 
alteration when processed as HTML and when processed as XML.

fantasai wrote:
> 
> Richard Ishida wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> This topic was discussed last week in the i18n WG call, and the group
>> formally supports adding the lang attribute to the XHTML family as a 
>> stopgap
>> means to enable language information to be recognised by html processors.
>> http://www.w3.org/2009/01/28-core-minutes.html#item07
>>
>> We would also like to enlist the support of the BPWG and the XHTML WGs to
>> propose to the HTML5 WG that their spec recognise xml:lang as 
>> equivalent to
>> lang, so that eventually XHTML can be written with a single language
>> attribute, ie. xml:lang, and still be recognised by html processors. 
>> Would
>> your groups support this?
> 
> Define "equivalent". Same semantics or same DOM and semantics?
> I.e. Do you want
>   - 'lang' and 'xml:lang' to both be considered as presenting language info
>   - 'lang' in XHTML to be parsed into the DOM tree as 'xml:lang'?
>   - 'xml:lang' in XHTML to parsed into the DOM tre as 'lang'?
>   - something else?
> 
> If there's a mismatch between 'lang' and 'xml:lang', which one wins?
> 
> ~fantasai

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Received on Tuesday, 3 February 2009 19:06:49 UTC