Re: code, samp, kbd, var

Philip Taylor:
> Lachlan Hunt wrote:
>
>> code, samp and var have a practical application in translation  
>> tools like Babel Fish.  Their contents won't be translated.
>
> OK, the last point is very interesting, but what it it suggests to  
> me (at least) is that Babelfish isn't the least interested in the  
> actual semantics of <code>, <samp> or <var> and is interested only  
> in the property that they should be not translated.

It is interested in a part of those semantics which are useful for  
the narrow field of this application. Everything else it doesn't need  
to know, like the postman doesn't need to know why he should handle  
certain marked parcels with extra care.

> That suggests in turn that what is really needed is a  
> "translatable" attribute (or an analogous mechanism)

That could be done, in general, with certain values for the |lang|  
attribute.

Received on Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:19:05 UTC