Re: [inline bidi update] - Some comments

Hi Richard,

> > 2. "if the tightly-wrapped phrase in the previous step is followed
> > inline (possibly after some intervening neutral characters) by a 
> > number or a logically separate opposite-direction phrase, then add
> > a directional mark (RLM or LRM) immediately after the markup of that
> > phrase. " [referring to HTML4]
> >
> > Comment: It can be necessary to add a directional mark also before
> > the markup of the phrase to be isolated. For example, in an LTR
> > paragraph, an RTL phase to be isolated is dropped from a database
> > with a directional markup added, but the preceding RTL phrase
> > doesn't contain such a markup. If the relative order of the 2
> > successive RTL phrases should be preserved in display (to follow the
> > LTR base text direction), an LRM character should be inserted before
> > the injected phrase.
> >
> In these cases, the directional mark is still being added after 
> something - just not the thing that was inserted. I think that if you 
> have a problem, you should be able to figure this out from the general 
> rule given, and so it's best to keep the rule simple.

I meant a case when a directional mark is *not* added after the
preceding text.
Directional isolates may affect reordering of the entire paragraph and
I think they don't always have to accompany opposite-direction phrases
(but only when there is a need for actual isolation, excellent
examples of which are given in your article).

> > 3. General comment on changing the dir semantics in the HTML
> > standard itself.

> bdi is useful for text that is inserted into content where you don't 
> know the direction of the inserted text, since it guesses that
> direction for you. It is can be convenient when you need to add
> markup, since it's simpler to write <bdi> than <span dir=auto>.

Yes, it seems to me that *dir* in its new role is not necessary...
But what is more important, I think, is that HTML5 doesn't suggest any
markup to express U+202A LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING / 
U+202B RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING ... U+202C POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING.

Thanks,
Lina

Received on Sunday, 9 February 2014 15:28:51 UTC