Re: [CSS3 Text] word-space-symbol Property

On Monday 19 September 2005 10:05, Richard Ishida wrote:
> I am copying in the i18n WG to this thread.  Would anyone who
> responds please also do so. Thanks.

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: www-style-request@w3.org
> > [mailto:www-style-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Yacob
> > Sent: 16 September 2005 21:53

> > I'm writing to suggest an additional property for the CSS3
> > Text Effects Module:
> >
> > Name: word-space-symbol
> > Value         : space | nb-space | aegean | ethiopic |
> > ideographic | tibetan | ugaritic | &entity;
> > Initial       : space
> > Inherited     : yes
> > Percentages   : N/A
> > Media         : visual
> > Computed value: specified value
> >
> > This property sets the symbol to display for a space
> > character after other spacing rules have been applied.
[...]
> > Also... an issue relevant to ethiopic wordspace and line
> > breaking rules is that the space symbol is legal and expected
> > at the end of line.

Another problem is that the space in CSS is treated as mark-up: it 
separates words, it doesn't print any glyph. If the distance between 
words is reduced (to fit an extra word on the line or because of 
negative 'word-spacing'), there may not be enough room for the chosen 
symbol.

You could say that the chosen symbol is printed in the middle of the 
space, whether or not it fits (the middle dot nearly always fits), but 
if Ethiopian typography requires that the space is never narrower than 
the Ethiopian space, this presents an extra complication for the line 
breaking algorithm.

As for the other values:

  - nb-space: I assume this is a non-breaking space. This is already
    handled by the 'white-space' property.

  - aegean | ideographic | tibetan | ugaritic: what are these?
    Ideographic scripts don't put spaces between words, do they?



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 Monday, 19 September 2005 12:23:30 UTC