[Bug 10807] i18n comment 1 : new attribute: ubi

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10807

--- Comment #8 from Aharon Lanin <aharon.lists.lanin@gmail.com> 2010-10-13 15:40:37 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > Wouldn't it be better to use an element, like <bdo>? <bdi> or something (Bi Di
> > Isolate)?
> 
> <bdo> doesn't actually do anything by itself, it only sets "unicode-bidi:
> bidi-override" if dir is set. From the HTML5 rendering section (which I think
> roughly matches what browsers do):
> 
> bdo[dir=ltr], bdo[dir=rtl] { unicode-bidi: bidi-override; } /* case-insensitive
> */
> 
> The proposal for ubi/bdi/whatever is that it should force unicode-bidi: isolate
> regardless of dir setting (or, if set to "off", force it off, but I'm not sure
> how that would work with the CSS model). So it's not really parallel to <bdo>,
> as proposed.
> 
> I'm mildly skeptical of using an element, because, as I mentioned in an earlier
> comment, there are 5 unicode-bidi values currently specified, maybe more in the
> future. Adding an element for each does not seem like a winning strategy
> long-term.

I do not like a <ubi> element for a few reasons, none of which is very big:
- Longer syntax (need a closing tag)
- You sometimes want isolation on a <div> and sometimes a <span>. <ubi> would
have to have the same maybe-phrasing semantics as <a>.
- I want isolation by default for dir=auto elements, but I want to be able to
be able to suppress it with ubi=off, which I can't do with an element.
- Adding an element is "heavier" than adding an attribute.

On the other hand, it is possible to argue that it should be an element because
it has special semantics - a "self-contained entity".

On balance, I prefer an attribute.

As I explained earlier, however, I do not like simply exposing unicode-bidi as
an HTML attribute, for the reasons given before.

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Received on Wednesday, 13 October 2010 15:40:40 UTC