- From: <bugzilla@jessica.w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:33:21 +0000
- To: public-html@w3.org
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13098 Summary: State that <wbr> represents the SOFT HYPHEN character (U+00AD/­/­) Product: HTML WG Version: unspecified Platform: PC URL: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/text-level-semantics#the- wbr-element OS/Version: All Status: NEW Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: HTML5 spec (editor: Ian Hickson) AssignedTo: ian@hixie.ch ReportedBy: xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org, public-html@w3.org PROBLEM: <WBR> and SOFT HYPHEN are equivalent, but HTML5 fails to point this out. THE EQUIVALENCE STATEMENT: (1) HTML5 defines <wbr> as "a line break opportunity". This seems fully equivalentg to Unicode's definition of the semantics of the SOFT HYPHEN charact as a "conditional" or "discretional" hyphen. http://unicode.org/reports/tr14/#SoftHyphen http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf (2) It does also seem compatible with HTML4's definition: "The soft hyphen tells the user agent where a line break can occur." http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text#h-9.3.3 (3) Further more, at least one Unicode expert have already identified <wbr> as a SOFT HYPHEN: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/HTML4.0/comments.html (4) Given the above, and becasue SOFT HYPHEN by default is invisible, representing it with the <wbr> element is very similar to representing it with ­ or ­ references: they are all simply an authoring helps to the problem that the soft hyphen might be invisible in the code. (5) And unlike for example <br>, there is no white-space affecting dfference between representing SOFT HYPHEN as the element (<wbr>) or as the character (directly typed or character refrence). Thus there is strong link between the SOFT HYPHEN character and the <wbr> element. THEREFORE: Please clarify that the <wbr> element represents (or is synonymous wiht) the SOFT HYPHEN, and explicitly state that authors may use a character references instead of <wbr> if the author is only after a visual representation in the code. POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RECTIFYING THIS BUG: # It would fullfill the need for a succinct explanation of what <wbr> is. Becasue, as a result of its former obsolete/non-standard status, many authors/developers do need such an explantion. For example HTML4 has an entire section (3 paragraphs) about hyphenation, including the soft hyphen, where it doesn't mention <wbr> a single time: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text#h-9.3.3 And the XHTML 1.x specifications are not any different. # It would make the section on the <wbr> element authoritative. Which could serve to remove the curren confusion and misinformation about which Unicode character it represents. For example Wikipedia, at the time of when this bug was filed, incorrectly stated that <wbr>, quote: "performs the same function as zero-width space (U+200B)": http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HTML_element&oldid=433185609#wbr Another instance of the same misunderstanding: http://www.princexml.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14 # It would clarify to authors that there is an alternative to using <wbr>. Such a thing would be useful since, due to <wbr>'s previous obsolete/non-standard status, the <wbr> element is not as well supported as - simply put - UNICODE. (For example it seems that PrinceXML does not support <wbr> yet, whereas it has full and excellent support for ­. And, in addition, there are many authoring tools which do not support HTML5 yet, and therefore does not offer users to insert <wbr/> but which nevertheless supports UNICODE, and thus allows to insert the SOFT HYPHEN character or a character reference for it.) # It would clarify to parser engine developers as well as to authoring tool developeres that they should treat SOFT HYPHEN and <wbr> the same way. For example, if an authoring tool is supposed to have a single SOFT HYPHEN insertion menu, then the the tool developer should be aware of the many opportunities he/she has when it comes to allowing the user to insert it. -- Configure bugmail: http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.
Received on Thursday, 30 June 2011 15:33:33 UTC