Internationalization Working Group Teleconference - 20 November 2025

https://www.w3.org/2025/11/20-i18n-minutes.html

Here is the meeting summary:

Quick recap

The WG discussed various action items related to Ruby Text-to-Speech documentation and URL standard gaps. We addressed web sustainability guidelines, font subsetting issues, and a request regarding font fallbacks for traditional Chinese script, with Fuqiao volunteering to respond to the user. The group also discussed proposals from the Chinese Layout Task Force and HTML Ruby extension, while considering charter implications and timeline constraints for DOM localization work.

Next steps

xfq: rename repository to ruby-tts-req and publish first public draft note
xfq: add label to sustainability web guidelines issue 136 and look into font subsetting concern
Joel: remind everyone to read sustainability issue 170 before next meeting
Addison: follow up with Martin about creating list of gaps in URL standard
Addison: contact PLH about XML errata mechanism via email
xfq: respond to CSS issue about traditional Chinese font fallback suggesting they specify font directly instead of using heuristics
xfq or Addison: contact Florian about Ruby markup extensions charter requirements and invite him to teleconference
xfq: follow up with Nigel about closing DAP issue since they implemented the requested empty default value
Summary

Ruby TTS Document Review Meeting

The team reviewed the agenda and discussed action items, focusing on a Ruby Text-to-Speech document. They clarified that the document would be published as a first public draft note, with plans to send it for review and fix any changes before publishing it as a note. Addison mentioned she was in the process of reminding Martin to create a list of gaps in the URL standard, though she had not heard back from him yet. John and others discussed the distinction between URLs and IRIs, noting that fixing the URL standard might not address all issues with IRIs.

Action Items Review and Updates

The team reviewed and closed several action items, including completed tasks related to WCAG and Ruby Base. They discussed follow-ups with Martin and Shane Carr, and noted that XML errata and XR issue 1393 were still pending. The team agreed to remind shepherds about awaiting comment resolutions and mentioned that there were no new review requests to address.

Font Subsetting and Guidelines Review

The team discussed web sustainability guidelines and font subsetting issues raised by Rose Newell. Addison and the team agreed to add an i18n-tracker label to the font subsetting issue and planned to review it further. They decided to agenda plus the topic for future discussion, with Joel creating an action item for everyone to read the related thread before the next meeting. The team also moved the web sustainability guidelines issue to awaiting comment resolution and noted that Joel would review another item this week to allow time for implementation of suggestions.

Chinese Font Fallback Discussion

The team discussed a pending issue regarding font fallbacks for traditional Chinese script, where a user requested that font fallbacks not work for literary Chinese (LZH) text. Addison explained that the request involves using Japanese fonts instead of traditional Chinese fonts for certain text, and the team agreed that specifying a font directly would be more reliable than implementing complex heuristics to find ancestor elements. Fuqiao volunteered to respond to the user, suggesting they specify a font instead of introducing additional fallback mechanisms.

HTML Footnote Proposal Discussion

The group discussed a proposal from the Chinese Layout Task Force to add semantic support for footnotes and endnotes in HTML, which was recently introduced and not discussed at TPAC. They noted that both HTML and EPUB currently lack native solutions for footnotes, using complex markup with classes and IDs instead. The WG agreed to skip next week's meeting due to Thanksgiving, and Joel suggested that since none of the current items were active, they could take the others out of order if there was a preference.

HTML Ruby Extension Charter Discussion

The group discussed the HTML Ruby extension and its potential move to the i18n working group, with Florian suggesting it could be included in their charter. Addison and others noted that significant changes to existing specifications like charmod or Ruby would require a new charter, though there was some uncertainty about whether this applied to the HTML Ruby extension. The group agreed to consider whether to recharter for future work, including potential REC track publications, and decided to write to Florian about the charter implications for the HTML Ruby extension.

DOM Localization and Timeline Discussion

The group discussed the DOM localization work, which has two parts: defining a message resources file format and defining integrations with HTML and DOM. They decided to contact Florian offline about the timeline for publishing a recommendation, as they cannot meet the December deadline for a Candidate Recommendation. The group agreed to both contact Florian and invite him to the next teleconference in two weeks.

Received on Friday, 21 November 2025 01:18:36 UTC