Additional thoughts on language specification

Hi all,

Just after I sent my previous message, I found the following enlightening
document by the internationalization group:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-i18n-html-tech-lang-20050224/

Summary: use the HTTP headers or <meta http-equiv="Content-Language"
content="en"/> to specify the primary language(s) in addition to specifying
the language of the text using the lang-attribute of the enclosing elements.


I think to pass this success criterion, each of the following techniques is
in itself sufficient: specifying the language in HTTP headers or using the
meta technique or lang-attribute of the HTML element or the
xml:lang-attribute of the HTML element. Following either of these will allow
the user agent to programmatically determine the primary language, which is
what the SC requires.

We could recommend specifying the language in the http headers (either by
manipulating the HTTP headers directly or by using the meta technique)
combined with the lang + xml:lang attributes of the HTML element. 

Yvette Hoitink
Heritas, Enschede, the Netherlands
E-mail: y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl
WWW: http://www.heritas.nl 

Received on Monday, 12 September 2005 12:30:15 UTC