[Bug 28265] [webvtt] incomplete ruby implementation [I18N-ISSUE-431]

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=28265

--- Comment #14 from Courtney <stillbookish@gmail.com> ---
Silvia,  

In terms of data, I have requests for support for additional Ruby features from
multiple content creators.  As I understand it, Japanese subtitles have been
delivered most commonly as images , which allows for a great degree of styling
and formatting control.  And, the expectation is that the same set of
functionality will be available with a text-based subtitles delivery format
like WebVTT.  And until that is the case, there is reluctance to move to
WebVTT.

Here are some of the features I am being asked for:
1.  Ruby alignment, specifically the ability to specify spacing of
multi-character Ruby over main text.  There are two cases- Ruby that annotates
a span of multiple characters in the main text, and Ruby that contains multiple
characters.  Sometimes Ruby can be applied to individual characters in the main
text and sometimes it needs to be applied to a span of them.  Support for <rtc>
is required to apply Ruby to a span of characters in the main text, and to
group Ruby characters together.  I think that <rbc> doesn't need to be explicit
in most cases.  While XHMTL defines <rbc>, it is generated as an anonymous box
in HTML; WebVTT could do the same.  ( Disclaimer:  I'm not an HTML expert, but
my reference for that information is the ruby-base-container definition in 
https://drafts.csswg.org/css-ruby/, and the lack of <rbc> in the HTML spec.  I
actually can't find where <rbc> is defined, so if someone can send a reference
to it, it would be appreciated. )

2.  Ruby placement - under/over ( for horizontal ) and left/right ( for
vertical ) of main text.  In my understanding, placing Ruby under main text is
rare ( though there are examples of it in the HTML spec ).  But, with vertical
subtitles, being able to specify left or right of the text is valuable.  Looks
like this can be accomplished with the CSS ruby-position property
(https://drafts.csswg.org/css-ruby/) though the spec seems to be a draft.

3.  Bōten emphasis dots - these can be delivered as Ruby annotations if the
character for them is available.

I have not had requests for support for <rp> or for double Ruby
annotations-i.e: above and below main text.  But, my feeling is that we should
probably just adopt the HTML Ruby support wholesale in WebVTT, as the CSS Ruby
support proposal is designed to work with it.

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Received on Friday, 14 August 2015 19:13:37 UTC