Comments on I18N requirements for WS

Below are comments on Requirements for the Internationalization of Web 
Services:
http://www.w3.org/International/ws/ws-i18n-requirements-edit/Overview.html

In general, I think this is a very interesting document and the 
requirements look reasonable.  I personally think I18N represents an 
excellent test case for WSDL 2.0 and SOAP 1.2.  It is tempting to foist the 
I18N problem off of WSDL and SOAP and onto the application domain, i.e., it 
is tempting to say that I18N is an application issue -- not a WSDL or SOAP 
issue.  But when you consider the fact that many applications will face 
this same need, and it makes sense to have a standard way of addressing it, 
then the question becomes: To what extent do WSDL and SOAP accommodate this 
need for I18N?  Ideally, I18N should be cleanly addressable using existing 
WSDL and SOAP extension mechanisms.  If our existing extension mechanisms 
prove inadequate for addressing I18N, then I believe we will have failed in 
our design of WSDL and SOAP.

Here are some editorial suggestions regarding the document.

1. Section 1 Introduction:
Please use (or at least reference) the definition of "Web service" from the 
Web Services Architecture document:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#whatis

2. Section 2.3 R003 WSDL International Policy Feature:
I'm having trouble parsing the sentence:
[[
Service providers need a way to provide information about a specific 
instance of a locale-affected Web service will execute or to differentiate 
instances of the same service.
]]
Perhaps there is a word or two missing?

3. Section 2.5 R005 Locale Identifiers:
I am surprised at the statement: "there are no standards for identifying 
locales".  I don't know much about I18N, so please forgive me if this is a 
stupid question, but: Is this true in general?  (If so, I'm amazed.)  Or do 
you mean this statement only in the context of Web services?  If you mean 
it in general, then I see this requirement as much broader than for Web 
services, so I question whether it should be listed here.  OTOH, if you 
meant it in the context of WS, then I think you need a little more 
explanation of why there is a WS-specific requirement.


-- 
David Booth
W3C Fellow / Hewlett-Packard
Telephone: +1.617.253.1273

Received on Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:56:37 UTC