Re: XHTML 2.0 and hreflang

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Hello Oskar, dear list members,

Am Montag, 3. November 2003 23:04 schrieb Oskar Welzl:
> Hello,
>
> I'm sorry if this is an issue already discussed months ago - I'm new to the
> list and could not find anything relevant in the archives. (Only postings
> similiar to mine, but no replies)
>
> A) The XHTML 2.0 public working draft (May 2003) lacks the good old
> hreflang attribute.
I agree with you.
I miss that, too.

> Is there any reason for this? I always considered it very thoughtful of web
> authors to point out explicitly that the resource they linked to was
> turkish or french. It helped me safe a mouseclick and bandwidth because I
> wouldn't have understood what's written there anyway.
I agree.
I doubt many authors knew it, not talking of using it, but I like it very 
much.
But that shouldn't be an argument for removing it.


> B) Even worse, section 12.1.3 gives a completely confusing idea of what
> xml:lang would be used for.
>
> 12.1.3 states that xml:lang will indicate *both* the language of the
> referenced document *and* that of the title-attibute. Example:
>
> <link title="The manual in Portuguese"
>       rel="alternate"
>       xml:lang="pt"
>       href="http://example.com/manual/portuguese.html"/>
>
> Well, plain to see for everyone, the title attribute is still in English.
> Doesn't XML generally use xml:lang to denote the language of an element's
> attributes/content rather than that of some remote resource? Shouldn't the
> example, therefore, read:
>
> <link title="The manual in Portuguese"
>       rel="alternate"
>       xml:lang="en"  <=== attributes are in english
> 	hreflang="pt"  <=== god old friend hreflang!
>       href="http://example.com/manual/portuguese.html"/>
>
>
> Please let me know the reason behind this "hreflang to
> xml:lang"-transformation in the XHTML draft; if there's a public document
> that explains it, a link would be appreciated.
I agree with you.
As I understand the XML Recommendation, the xml:lang attribute also affects 
the language of literal attribute values. Thus, xml:lang="pt" and title="The 
manual in Portuguese" is an example that violates the XML Recommendation.
Giving the already in the XML Recommendation well defined xml:lang attribute 
additional meaning also extends the meaning of an Attribute well known to XML 
authors in an unexpected way.

I "demand" (read: suggest ;-) to keep the hreflang attribute, make it part of 
the hypertext attribute collection and additionally allow it to contain 
multiple values, a language list, because the URI reference in context could 
be a URI pointing on a negotiating resource.

Bye
- -- 
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Christian Wolfgang Hujer
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Received on Tuesday, 4 November 2003 07:56:26 UTC