[CSS21] response to issue 124

This is the CSS WG's response to an issue you raised on the last CSS
2.1 draft (http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-CSS21-20030915). We want to
publish CSS 2.1 as a CR in about two weeks. Please let us know this
week if you think our response is wrong.

Your e-mail:
    http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8E49FF.A8ABAA98@i18nguy.com
    For the purposes of matching, I wonder if it makes sense to
    reference the RFCs at all. Isn't it really string matching based
    on strings formatted with hyphen separators? Does any software
    verify that the language tag contains appropriately registered
    codes or uses ISO codes? Should it be an error, or perhaps the
    rule ignored, if a CSS document specifies :lang(k9) since k9 is
    not an offical language code or a properly formatted private code.

Some other messages on that thread (it's a long thread):
  http://www.w3.org/mid/16270.39061.194849.106208@lanalana.inria.fr (bert)
  http://www.w3.org/mid/15411558279.20031016161109@w3.org (chris)
  http://www.w3.org/mid/Pine.GSO.4.58.0310162227430.238@korppi.cs.tut.fi
  http://www.w3.org/mid/18316510540.20031016232304@w3.org (chris)
  http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8F30C3.1F802EB6@i18nguy.com
  http://www.w3.org/mid/4.2.0.58.J.20031016212319.06011f40@localhost
  http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8F5666.DFB8DE6E@i18nguy.com (useful points)
  http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8F59A9.5F0B455C@i18nguy.com
  http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8F6723.B4BA94C5@i18nguy.com
  http://www.w3.org/mid/Pine.GSO.4.58.0310171106140.15855@korppi.cs.tut.fi
  http://www.w3.org/mid/16271.47379.949013.187179@lanalana.inria.fr (proposal)
  http://www.w3.org/mid/3F8FC99A.12AEC995@i18nguy.com
  http://www.w3.org/mid/115226064.20031017155409@w3.org
  http://www.w3.org/mid/4.2.0.58.J.20031017140847.07153d28@localhost (proposal edits)
  [...]

CSS WG response:
    Here is the new text:

      The pseudo-class ':lang(C)' matches if the element is in
      language C. Whether there is a match is based solely on the
      identifier C being either equal to, or a hyphen-separated
      substring of, the element's language value, in the same way as
      if performed by the '|=' operator. The identifier C doesn't have
      to be a valid language name.

      Exception: C may be empty, but it is undefined in CSS 2.1 what
      it matches in that case. (This is likely to be defined in CSS
      level 3.)

        Note: It is recommended, that documents and protocols indicate
        language using codes from RFC 3066 [RFC3066] or its successor,
        and by means of "xml:lang" attributes in the case of XML-based
        documents [XML10]. See "FAQ: Two-letter or three-letter
        language codes."



For the CSS WG,
Bert
-- 
  Bert Bos                                ( W 3 C ) http://www.w3.org/
  http://www.w3.org/people/bos/                              W3C/ERCIM
  bert@w3.org                             2004 Rt des Lucioles / BP 93
  +33 (0)4 92 38 76 92            06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

Received on Thursday, 12 February 2004 16:32:52 UTC