[CSS3 Text] word-break

Hi,

I have a proposal for the 'word-break' property.

In the current CSS3 Text draft spec:
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/#word-break

    Name: word-break
    Value: normal | keep-all | loose |  break-strict | break-all 
    Initial: normal 
    ...

Here "normal" means "strict" (disallow line-breaking before small kana 
etc.). I think this is not very good because:

1. "loose" (allow line-breaking before small kana etc.) line-breaking 
   restrictions are much more often used than "strict" in current 
   Japanese typography.

2. Some CSS implementations (for example, Internet Explorer) already 
   implemented the "loose" line-breaking as default behavior. If the 
   strict line-breaking becomes the default in the CSS standard, such 
   existing implementations will be no longer standard compliant.

My proposal is to separate "strict" from "normal". The new definition is 
the following.

Name: word-break
Value: normal | strict | keep-all | loose | break-all |  break-strict 
Initial: normal 
Applies to: all elements 
Inherited: yes 
Percentages: N/A 
Media: visual 
Computed value: specified value 

normal
    The UA determines what set of line-breaking restrictions. It may be 
    equivalent to either of 'strict' or 'loose'.

strict
    Breaks non-CJK scripts according to their own rules while using a 
    strict set of line-breaking restrictions for CJK scripts (Hangul, 
    Japanese Kana, and CJK ideographs). 

keep-all
    Same as 'strict' for all non-CJK scripts. However, sequences of CJK 
    characters can no longer break on implied break points. This option 
    should only be used where the presence of white space characters 
    still creates line-breaking opportunities, as in Korean. 

loose
    As for 'strict', but CJK scripts use a less restrictive set of line-
    breaking restrictions. 

break-all
    Same as 'loose' for CJK scripts, but non-CJK scripts can break 
    anywhere. This option is used mostly when the text is predominantly 
    CJK characters with few non-CJK excerpts and it is desired that the 
    text be more evenly distributed on each line. 

break-strict
    As for 'break-all', except CJK scripts break according to the rules 
    for 'strict'.


BTW I think that the "break-strict" might be unnecessary. Such line
breaking restrictions are very unusual in the real Japanese typography.


-- 
Shinyu Murakami
Antenna House XSL Formatter team
http://www.antennahouse.com

Received on Tuesday, 31 October 2006 16:37:15 UTC