News Release: W3C Sets New Standard for Internationalized Web Content

Today, W3C announced a new Web standard that makes it easier to  
create internationalized XML content. Internationalization Tag Set  
(ITS) 1.0 helps developers create data languages that support the  
languages we use around the world. For more information, please  
contact Janet Daly, W3C Global Communications Officer, at +1 617 253  
5884 or <janet@w3.org>

W3C Sets New Standard for Internationalized Web Content

ITS 1.0 shows the way to making interoperable markup languages

Web Resources

	This Press Release
		In English: http://www.w3.org/2007/04/its-pressrelease.html.en
		In Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2007/04/its-pressrelease.html.ja

	Internationalization Tag Set 1.0 Specification
		http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-its-20070403/

	W3C Internationalization Activity
		http://www.w3.org/International/

http://www.w3.org/ -- 3 April 2007 -- The latest Web Standard from  
W3C, "Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) 1.0," makes it easy to  
create internationalized XML content. This content can be adapted, at  
lower cost, to the language, cultural and other requirements of a  
specific target market, a process called localization. Whether ITS  
1.0 is used to build an internationalized XML schema from scratch, to  
add support to an existing schema, or to improve the  
internationalization of existing content, ITS 1.0 gives users the  
power to create XML for worldwide use.

"It's all too common for international users and localizers to  
struggle with document formats due to a lack of internationalization  
during schema design," explained Richard Ishida, W3C  
Internationalization Activity Lead. " Developers may not know what's  
needed, or may only provide part of what's needed, and then do so  
inconsistently from schema to schema. ITS is there to help with this,  
whether you are creating a new schema or working with an established  
one."

ITS 1.0 Is an Important Building Block of a World Wide Web

ITS 1.0 addresses a number of internationalization requirements,  
including being able to identify the language of a piece of text, to  
specify the directionality of text (such as right-to-left Hebrew and  
Arabic or mixed directionality texts), to provide Ruby annotations  
(used in East Asian documents to indicate pronunciation or to provide  
a short annotation), and to indicate whether content should be  
translated (an important requirement for people building tools to  
help with localization).

An internationalized XML schema takes into consideration these  
requirements and others, ideally early in the design process. With  
ITS 1.0, XML schema designers can build localization-ready schemas at  
lower cost by reusing the "predefined" ITS 1.0 constructs, such as  
the "its:dir" attribute to specify text directionality.

ITS 1.0 also enables people to improve the internationalization of  
existing XML documents without modifying them. To do so, one  
describes how the features of the existing format relate to the  
corresponding ITS 1.0 features. By creating this association with the  
powerful features of ITS 1.0, localization tools that support ITS 1.0  
can be expanded at low cost to handle legacy content, including  
content in formats such as XHTML, DocBook and DITA. ITS 1.0 also  
makes it easier and less expensive to build localization tools by  
offering a standard for localization concepts.

ITS 1.0 Designed with International Cooperation, Requirements

In designing ITS 1.0, the Internationalization Activity took into  
account the diverse internationalization and localization  
requirements of schema developers (with new or existing schemas),  
vendors of content-related tools, and content providers. ITS 1.0 was  
developed in liaison with some of the leading standardization efforts  
in the localization industry such as the XLIFF TC in OASIS, and the  
OSCAR SIG at LISA.

Contact Americas, Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East-
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium  
where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work  
together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission  
through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to  
ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are  
Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer  
Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the  
USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics  
(ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has  
additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http:// 
www.w3.org/



-----------------------------------------------------------

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Janet Daly, Global Communications Officer
o: +1.617.253.5884
m: +1.206.228.1097
janet@w3.org

Received on Tuesday, 3 April 2007 13:52:28 UTC