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Re: [Ltru] xml:lang syntax



Hi all,

2008/5/8 Leif Halvard Silli <lhs at malform.no>:

>  This means that we can say xml:lang="mul" and encompass all the
>  langugeas of the world. But not any two or more languages. With
>  xml:lang="mul-en-fr" one coud be more spesific.

There is a need to be able specify the intended audience of a
document, in HTML terms there is covered by the HTTP Header and
metadata in the document, which could contain multiple values. I'll
leave aside the fact that many user agents don't do anything
meaningful with that data, but it is possible to add the data.

Doing something like xml:lang="mul-en-fr" would not be a good way to
go. The xml:lang attribute would indicate the language of the contents
of an element and should be a single value. Adding multiple vlaues
would affect inheritance of language values. It would effect
processing data and displaying data.

At any one time you would not be able to identify the language of text
being processed from the xml:lang attribute.

If you were defining a schema or DTD you could create an attribute to
identify audience or document language(s) that could contain multiple
values. There is no need to break xml:lang.

Andrew



-- 
Andrew Cunningham
Vicnet Research and Development Coordinator
State Library of Victoria
Australia

andrewc at vicnet.net.au
lang.support at gmail.com
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