Re: 3.6. The root element

In  the subsection "3.6.3 Declaring script (writing system) and  
language", I had intended to include something about authoring tools,  
but forgot.

Perhaps a separate paragraph could state:

proposed addition/
Authoring tools may want to ensure the @dir, @xml:lang and @lang  
attributes exist and are set: 1) upon creating a new document; and 2)  
upon opening an existing document or saving a document.  When adding  
these attributes, authoring tools must set these attributes on the  
root element according to the author's intentions. This may involve  
persistently storing the author's preference for of a single language  
or the author's preference to be queried each time the attributes are  
set. Authoring tools should avoid assuming that a user's primary  
language is the only authoring language for the user. In other words  
some users might author documents in various languages and with  
scripts in either directionality.
/end proposed addition

On Jul 31, 2007, at 10:31 PM, Robert Burns wrote:

>
> Based on this thread, I offer the following text to substitute for  
> the current subsection.
>
> proposed text/
>
> [...]
>
> Content model:
> A head element followed by a body element. Within a compound  
> document where metadata is handled by the host document namespace,  
> authors may omit both the BODY and the HEAD. In these circumstances  
> the content model for HTML is one or more block-level elements.
>
> [...]
>
> 3.6.2 The xmlns attribute:
> The html element represents the root of an HTML document or it may  
> also be the root of an HTML subdocument within a namespace aware  
> XML document with the namespace: "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml".
>
> Within the text/html serialization no namespace is required nor are  
> namespaces recognized by an HTML5 UA. Simply for convenience — to  
> make migration to and from XHTML mildly easier — authors may  
> include a default namespace declaration even within the text/html  
> serialization. For example:
>
> <html xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' >
>
> Within the txt/html serialization such a namespace declaration has  
> absolutely no effect and no meaning. Within XML serializations  
> authors may use namespaces according to "Namespaces in XML 1.0"[2].
>
> UAs processing text/html serialized documents must ignore all  
> namespace declarations: including the "xmlns" attribute and any  
> attribute prefixed with "xmlns:". UAs processing XML serialized  
> documents must process namespaces according to "Namespaces in XML  
> 1.0"[2] and its successors.
>
> NOTE: When parsed by an HTML parser, the @xmlns attribute ends up  
> in the null namespace, not the "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/"  
> namespace as namespace declaration attributes would in XML.
>
> 3.6.3 Declaring script (writing system) and language
> On the root element, authors should [or must] set a value for the  
> @dir attribute of either ltr (for let-to-right text) or rtl (for  
> left-to-right text) on the root element of an HTML document.  
> Leaving the value for @dir unspecified leaves the handling of text  
> directionality up to the various UAs.
>
> For HTML documents, authors should [or must] declare a document  
> language on the root element by setting the @xml:lang attribute on  
> the root element, in accordance with RFC 3066 language code. For  
> compatibility with non-HTML5 aware UAs, authors may set an  
> identical language on the @lang attribute. In the case of a  
> discrepancy between the two attributes, UAs must treat the  
> @xml:lang attribute as authoritative.
>
> The direction and language may be overridden for any element within  
> the HTML root to specify language and directionality exceptions  
> within a document fragment.
>
> 3.6.4 Using HTML in compound documents:
> When using HTML within XML namespace aware compound documents when  
> the metadata is handled adequately by the host document, authors  
> may omit both the HEAD and BODY elements. The content model for the  
> HTML element is then identical to the content model listed for BODY.
>
> /end proposed text
>
> Any corrections, enhancements or additions are welcome.
>
> [1]: <http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/html5/spec/Overview.html? 
> rev=1.78#the-root>
> [2]: <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names/>
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 1 August 2007 14:49:42 UTC