[minutes] Internationalization telecon 2025-03-20

https://www.w3.org/2025/03/20-i18n-minutes.html





text version:

– DRAFT –
Internationalization Working Group Teleconference

20 March 2025

[2]Agenda. [3]IRC log.

[2] https://www.w3.org/events/meetings/b7edae68-f52c-4aab-a1a6-3c37459e0786/20250320T150000/
[3] https://www.w3.org/2025/03/20-i18n-irc

Attendees

Present
addison, Bert, Fuqiao, Nat McCully, Richard

Regrets
-

Chair
Addison Phillips

Scribe
Bert, xfq

Contents

1. [4]Agenda Review
2. [5]Action Items
3. [6]Info Share
4. [7]Review Radar
5. [8]Pending Issues
6. [9]Logical values for the touch-action property
7. [10]Specdev Pull Requests
8. [11]AOB?
9. [12]Summary of action items

Meeting minutes

<addison> Nat: wondering about the state of Korean Layout
Requirements

<addison> Richard: it would be great if we could get some
Korean folks and yourself involved in the KLReq work

<addison> Nat: think @@1 is?

<addison> Richard: barrier to entry is low. if you want to
contribute...

<addison> Nat: still own JLreq a ton of writing

<addison> ... will let you know what we find out

<addison> Richard: original KLReq written by Korean people

<addison> Nat: want the Web to have benefit of some of this
research

<addison> ... transition away fron Japanese convention

<addison> ... started studying elsewhere than Japan, being born
is a new native Korean aesthetic

<addison> Nat: very interested in formulating way to harmonize
across scripts

<addison> ... baseline consistency, chaos because have to have
heuristics for fonts

<addison> ... such as CJK and elevating the em box

Agenda Review

Action Items

<addison> [13]https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues

[13] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues

<addison> #162

<gb> [14]Action 162 poll I18N/CSS for new day/time (on
aphillips) due 2025-03-25

[14] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/162

<addison> #160

<gb> [15]Action 160 review graphemes in specdev and add
balinese example and otherwise fix the text (on aphillips) due
2025-03-06

[15] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/160

addison: No CSS people at the last meeting

addison: Undertaken a large rewrite, see agenda

<addison> close #160

<gb> Closed [16]issue #160

[16] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/160

<addison> #159

<gb> [17]Action 159 write up proposal for specdev char-string
section, adding material that deals with the encoding interface
et al (on aphillips) due 2025-02-27

[17] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/159

<addison> #157

<gb> [18]Action 157 write glossary proposal identifying options
and next steps for those options (on aphillips) due 2025-02-20

[18] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/157

<addison> #135

<gb> [19]Action 135 follow up on XR issue 1393 about locale in
session (on aphillips) due 2024-10-17

[19] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/135

<addison> #127

<gb> [20]Action 127 make a list of shared topics of interest
between TG2 and W3C-I18N (on aphillips) due 2024-09-30

[20] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/127

<addison> #89

<gb> [21]Action 89 update i18n specs to support dark mode (on
xfq) due 2024-04-18

[21] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/89

<addison> #33

<gb> [22]Action 33 Close issues marked `close?` or bring to WG
for further review (on aphillips)

[22] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/33

<addison> #7

<gb> [23]Action 7 Remind shepherds to tend to their awaiting
comment resolutions (Evergreen) (on aphillips, xfq, himorin,
r12a, bert-github) due 18 Jul 2023

[23] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/7

addison: I moved 1 of the IETF docs

<addison> #4

<gb> [24]Action 4 Work with respec and bikeshed to provide the
character markup template as easy-to-use markup (on aphillips)
due 27 Jul 2023

[24] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/4

Info Share

Review Radar

<addison> [25]https://github.com/orgs/w3c/projects/91/views/1

[25] https://github.com/orgs/w3c/projects/91/views/1

addison: New incoming request. Web Neural Networks. We reviewed
this twice before.

xfq: I can take it.

Pending Issues

<addison> [26]https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity/
issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Apending

[26] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity/issues?q=is:issue+is:open+label:pending

xfq: Emphasis marks [27]w3c/i18n-activity#1995 is a minor issue

[27] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity/issues/1995

<gb> [28]Issue 1995 Emphasis marks do not skip tilde (by
w3cbot) [pending] [tracker] [s:css-text-decor]
[spec-type-issue] [clreq]

[28] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-activity/issues/1995

xfq: tilde is used as punctuation.

r12a: I added i:emphasis label on the issue

Logical values for the touch-action property

<addison> [29]w3c/pointerevents#505

[29] https://github.com/w3c/pointerevents/issues/505

<gb> [30]Issue 505 ‘Logical’ values for the ‘touch-action’
property (by aphillips) [i18n-needs-resolution] [future]

[30] https://github.com/w3c/pointerevents/issues/505

addison: We suggested in June that they might have logical
directions, not just physical directions.

xfq: WG wants to add logical values in the next version and
don't want to delay this version.

addison: Sometimes it makes sense to have physical directions
and mirroring doesn't apply. But we should do the right thing
here. And questiom is if we eant to hold them up, as they have
no implementation if this.

xfq: It seems they do want to add it.

Bert: this is for scrolling
… they have zooming too

addison: Is this critical for bidi users?

nat: JLReq points out that there is often mixed directions.
… Not familiar enough with the use cases. But want vertical
text to work well for users.

xfq: We don't remove the physical diretcions, authors can still
use those.

addison: Do Arabic speakers have to change their style sheets,
when a logical direction would have given them the direction
already.
… And is this important enough to block them from shipping
their spec?

ACTION: xfq: ask bidi related groups about pointerevents 505

<gb> Created [31]action #163

[31] https://github.com/w3c/i18n-actions/issues/163

xfq: Maybe we can ask Arabic and Hebrew users in our groups for
their opinion.

Specdev Pull Requests

<addison> [32]w3c/bp-i18n-specdev#155

[32] https://github.com/w3c/bp-i18n-specdev/pull/155

<gb> [33]Pull Request 155 Rework of the 'character' section (by
aphillips)

[33] https://github.com/w3c/bp-i18n-specdev/pull/155

<addison> [34]w3c/bp-i18n-specdev#154

[34] https://github.com/w3c/bp-i18n-specdev/pull/154

<gb> [35]Pull Request 154 Update the char truncation section
(by aphillips)

[35] https://github.com/w3c/bp-i18n-specdev/pull/154

addison: There are two pull requests.
… Last week we merged the bigger rewrite of the character
section.

<addison> [36]https://
deploy-preview-154--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#char_truncatio
n

[36] https://deploy-preview-154--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#char_truncation

addison: Lets' start with section 1.54
… I rewrote example 16
… Breaking at graphme cluster and breaking at bytes.
… And limits on byte length when character need more bytes.
… Richard pointed out that I used color to distinguish cases
and I should use some markup instead.

Bert: it reads well.
… maybe reduce the number of colors.

<addison> [37]https://
deploy-preview-155--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#characters

[37] https://deploy-preview-155--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#characters

addison: I'll eliminate some of the color. Do you want to see
it again, or shall I just merge?
… Seems you don't want to see it again. :-)

addison: character section ^^ not has a box at the start that
says where to read explanation.
… I made a sort of glossary in order. So people get an idea
why, eg., "character" is maybe not the term to use.
… I may need other examples than Devanagari, maybe I <heart>
Unicode.

xfq: Should the box apply to the whole of the section instead?

addison: Yes, good catch.

r12a: @@ need good definition.

addison: Section 4.2 says what to do, use code point.

r12a: We use the word "character", e.g., further down.
… "Use the term code point to refer to a Unicode character."
but what is a Unicode character?
… At some point we had the first mustard say something like
avoid character unless... etc.

addison: Avoid character, even with a local definition, because
it is easy to get confused.
… Advice to avoid the term, or define what you mean.

r12a: "absctract character"

addison: We actually don't have that in our glossary.

r12a: We need to define it much more precisely.
… A bit contradictory at the moment.
… Tell me what you were thinking and I'll tell you how to write
it.

addison: Character set with abstract characters, which are not
code points yet.

r12a: I'll need to check the use of the term in our other texts
now that I understand what you mean.

<addison> [38]https://www.unicode.org/
glossary/#abstract_character

[38] https://www.unicode.org/glossary/#abstract_character

r12a: So: An abstract character is a notional item in a
character set, before it is being assigned to a code point,

addison: All these terms are vague, for a reason.

r12a: May want to say that it is an item in the *UNicode*
character set. There may be other character sets.

addison: Is this text closer to the mark than previously?

r12a: I think so, but it takes some time to review.

addison: There are some left-over things.
… There is one other big chnage:
… Moved definition of string right after definitionof
character.
… It felt weird not to put string directly after character.
… No changes to the section, though.

addison: Last week's merged text is in the version on GitHub,
but not in the published version yet.

<r12a> [39]https://
deploy-preview-155--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#char_display

[39] https://deploy-preview-155--bp-i18n-specdev.netlify.app/#char_display

r12a: "Specifications, software and content MUST NOT require or
depend on a one-to-one mapping between characters and visual
text units."
… I think text units is a mistake.

<r12a> [40]https://www.w3.org/TR/
international-specs/#char_display

[40] https://www.w3.org/TR/international-specs/#char_display

r12a: Explanation missing that these are glyphs from a font.
… What is meant is glyph, not visual text unit.
… And explanation of what is a glyph.

addison: It doesn't talk about fonts, but it could do.
… Should introduce explanation of code point and grapheme
cluster to glyph?

r12a: Not sure you need to.

addison: Trying to minimalist in what we introduce.
… The Hindi example was useful, because I could return to it
later.
… But it is all three bytes, so you don't see some of the other
isses.
… Could do an example with a flag.

<r12a> [41]https://www.w3.org/TR/
international-specs/#char_term_def

[41] https://www.w3.org/TR/international-specs/#char_term_def

r12a: I mentioned before about defining a character set.

<r12a> Specifications SHOULD explicitly define the term
'character' to mean a Unicode code point.

r12a: This ^^ is what we have.

<r12a> [42]https://www.w3.org/TR/
international-specs/#char_specific

[42] https://www.w3.org/TR/international-specs/#char_specific

<r12a> Specifications SHOULD use specific terms, when
available, instead of the general term 'character'.

<r12a> When specifications use the term 'character' the
specifications MUST define which meaning they intend, and
SHOULD explicitly define the term 'character' to mean a Unicode
code point.

r12a: There is a bit of repetition between the above. But says
that, if you use characte, syou shoulkd define it. And shold
probably add: and use it consistently.

<addison> > Specifications SHOULD use the term code point
instead of the term 'character'. If the term 'character' is
used, it MUST be explicitly defined to mean a Unicode code
point. The term Unicode Scalar Value MAY also be used.

r12a: I was never entirely happy with defining abstract
character. Prefer to define character to be what you want and
then use that.

addison: But this is advice to spec writers.

r12a: Not sure we need to push them to mean a specific thing,
as long as they define what they mean.

addison: And then we tell them when they are wrong? OK.
… Example 7: I wanted to make a better guide for spec writers.
… Like some of the things in richard's articles.
… Thinking of the styling. Do you [Richard] have examples?

r12a: I like a red cross, but that is usually for code.

AOB?

Summary of action items

1. [43]xfq: ask bidi related groups about pointerevents 505

Received on Monday, 24 March 2025 02:33:11 UTC