Re: Metadata in the VTT file header (bug 15851), use cases (and a need to close this)

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 5:40 PM, Simon Pieters <simonp@opera.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:54:48 +0200, David Singer <singer@apple.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Sep 24, 2012, at 7:28 , Silvia Pfeiffer <silviapfeiffer1@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> In any case: I'm going to use file-wide metadata for the CEA-608/708
>>> conversion document [1]. I'm going to follow what was last discussed
>>> with Simon, except I don't really know when to end the multi-line
>>> value, so I chose a random "##" as the character sequence to end it
>>> (happy for any better suggestions). I preferred this as more obvious
>>> than a single ".".
>>
>>
>> roughly why I suggested [[ to open and ]] to close (it's more visually
>> noticeable, and is like CDATA) :-).  Not a ditch worth dying in, as long as
>> we choose a line that is unlikely in what we want to embed (notably CSS).
>>
>>
>>> I'm fully aware that the WebVTT spec itself needs not to say anything
>>> about this - it will not break browsers in any case. It would,
>>> however, be better if we could change the spec to regard the
>>> multi-line values that may have empty lines in them not as broken
>>> cues, but as part of the header. We could define - as Simon said -
>>> anything between the "WEBVTT" magic string and the first successfully
>>> parsed cue as "header".
>>
>>
>>
>> ...or we could ban blank lines in the header (none of our use-cases
>> require them, after all), or escape them (or a combination).
>
>
> If the use cases don't require blank lines, we can use a blank line to end a
> multi-line header.
>
> WEBVTT
> language: en
> style:
> @import url(style.css);
>
> kind: subtitles
>
>
> 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000
> cue

Hmm... in our discussions we included the use of blank lines. I think
we will get them whether we specify them or not, because people will
copy their CSS files from elsewhere and bring blank lines in. So, we
should deal with them somehow. If we can avoid using an end marker
(and that includes having a blank line as end marker), that would be
best. As for the use of a blank line as end marker - I think it's too
easily missed or overlooked.

Silvia.

Received on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 11:43:08 UTC