disambiguation between dialog versus dialogue

aloha, sally!

the results of my investigation into the "natural language" usage of 
d i a l o g versus d i a l o g u e are collected at:

http://ews.w3.org/topic/PF/XTech/HTML5/Dialogue

and reproduced below:

aria-dialog Versus HTML5's dialog Element

  ISSUE: Currently, there is both an HTML5 element named dialog and an 
  ARIA role named dialog. A concern has been raised that the use of such 
  synonyms could be detrimental. The editor of the HTML5 draft, Ian 
  Hickson, has publicly stated that he is willing to change the 
  element's name, but also remarked that "dialog" was the best possible 
  choice out of the many considered by the WHAT WG, and pondered the 
  need for a "dialog box" element in HTML5 itself. [1] It has, therefore, 
  been proposed, that the aria role dialog retain the spelling "d i a l 
  o g"; that the spelling "d i a l o g" be reserved in HTML5 for the 
  concept of a "dialog box", thereby bringing ARIA and HTML5 into 
  harmony; and that the HTML5 element currently named "d i a l o g" be 
  changed to reflect the correct spelling for the semantic use for which 
  the element is intended, "d i a l o g u e", which should be represented 
  by a single letter element -- D -- to avoid confusion. 
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Reasons for Retaining aria-dialog

   1. it is a term known to computer programmers and professionals when 
      spelled "dialog"

   2. it is the preferred spelling for this construct in computer 
      science

        A. if one uses "dialog" as a search term at the online version 
           of the <cite>Mirriam-Webster Dictionary</cite>, the 
           Merriam-Webster entry on "dialog" [2] lists "dialogue" as 
           the "main entry" [3], with a related entry "dialog box" [4], 
           which is a computing, not a semantic, term

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Reasons for Changing HTML5's dialog Element to dialogue or D

   1. "dialogue" is the preferred spelling for the semantic meaning of 
      the term "dialog" as currently used in the HTML5 draft;

        A. references: 
             I. wikipedia entry on "dialog" resolves to "dialogue" [5] 
            II. the Merriam-Webster entry on "dialog" [6] lists 
                "dialogue" as the "main entry" [7], with a related 
                entry "dialog box" [8]

   2. since there are many different contexts in which DIALOGUE is an 
      appropriate element/container, the HTML5 dialogue element demands 
      a role attribute [9], in order to enable differentiation between 
      types of dialogue;

        A. a preliminary list of predefined role values for DIALOGUE 
            follows: 
              * conversation 
              * dialogue (covers theater, film, fiction, where the 
                element is used to distinguish dialogue from other types 
                of content) 
              * transcript 
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Email Exchanges

W3C Lists

w3c-wai-pf List (member confidential)

    * FW: (html5) dialog [12] 
    * aria-dialog versus HTML5 DIALOG element [13]

wai-xtech List (public)

    * aria-dialog versus HTML5's DIALOGUE (a proposal) [12]

WHAT WG Lists

help-whatwg.org List

    * (html5) dialog [13] 
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References

  1. http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/help-whatwg.org/2008-November/000151.html 
  2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialog 
  3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialogue 
  4. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialog%20box 
  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialog 
  6. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialog 
  7. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialogue 
  8. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialog%20box 
  9. http://esw.w3.org/topic/PF/XTech/HTML5/RoleAttribute 
 10. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-wai-pf/2008OctDec/0289.html 
 11. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-wai-pf/2008OctDec/thread.html#msg290 
 12. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/wai-xtech/2008Nov/thread.html#msg75 
 13. http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/help-whatwg.org/2008-November/thread.html#142 
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