[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

Re: xml:lang how often used?

• From: "bryan rasmussen" <rasmussen.bryan@g...>
• To: "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@c...>
• Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:17:33 +0200

Hi Ken,

well actually languageID in UBL seems to me to used as an xml:lang
replacement on at least some elements - for example languageID on
Name. Not sure if there is some usage somewhere on in some
localization that goes beyond or differs from the xml:lang usage.


 I think though now I just realized a really perverse and strange use
case I hadn't thought of for having a language identifier different
than xml:lang, which is that xml:lang sets the language specification
for all attributes + contents of an element, but you could
theoretically see situations where attributes for some reason had a
different language than the text nodes or where the specification
wanted to only allow the setting of language type on text nodes, no
child elements affected.

Well - in theory, not sure if it would ever happen. I guess that would
be a psychotic use of languages, sort of like psychotic namespaces
http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200204/msg00170.html

maybe somewhere in the wide xml world there is something like this:

<a xml:lang="en-gb" att="colour" lang="en-us">color</a>

:)
where the spec says that a lang attribute takes precedence over
xml:lang for the textnode.

Now that would be funny!


of course languageID and xml:lang both look to
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3066.txt

Of course it is sort of funny that I am complaining about it now than
when I was on the UBL group but I figured it was something that it was
not a pressing issue and had been decided in an earlier draft of the
language anyway.

I can also say I am familiar with the same type of 'we need to support
multiple languages, lets do it with an attribute on the element called
language' thinking from various things in different formats I have
seen over the years.

Cheers,
Bryan Rasmussen



On 10/18/07, G. Ken Holman <gkholman@c...> wrote:
> At 2007-10-18 14:44 +0200, bryan rasmussen wrote:
> >It seems to me that people are always reinventing the wheel where
> >xml:lang is used and I am always seeing standards that specify an
> >attribute or element usage for specifying the language that parts of a
> >document are in. Can anyone think of any particular formats or perhaps
> >governmental initiatives where it has been officially decreed that
> >xml:lang must be used when appropriate, and does anyone know why
> >people seem to not use xml:lang in favor of using other ways to do the
> >same thing?
>
> My customers using DITA are using xml:lang for their product
> documentation.  The stylesheets I write for them inspect the document
> element for the language in order to arrange the page geometry appropriately.
>
> Personally I'm using it in subtrees of multi-lingual compilations of
> Universal Business Language information item description
> translations:  the aggregate translation stores for each item
> description the many available language translations, each annotated
> with an appropriate xml:lang.
>
> Where are you seeing alternatives popping up?
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ken
>
>
> --
> Comprehensive in-depth XSLT2/XSL-FO1.1 classes: Austin TX,Jan-2008
> World-wide corporate, govt. & user group XML, XSL and UBL training
> RSS feeds:     publicly-available developer resources and training
> G. Ken Holman                 mailto:gkholman@C...
> Crane Softwrights Ltd.          http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/
> Box 266, Kars, Ontario CANADA K0A-2E0    +1(613)489-0999 (F:-0995)
> Male Cancer Awareness Jul'07  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/x/bc
> Legal business disclaimers:  http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/legal
>
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> XML-DEV is a publicly archived, unmoderated list hosted by OASIS
> to support XML implementation and development. To minimize
> spam in the archives, you must subscribe before posting.
>
> [Un]Subscribe/change address: http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/
> Or unsubscribe: xml-dev-unsubscribe@l...
> subscribe: xml-dev-subscribe@l...
> List archive: http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/
> List Guidelines: http://www.oasis-open.org/maillists/guidelines.php
>
>

• Follow-Ups:
  • RE: xml:lang how often used?
    • From: "Michael Kay" <mike@s...>

• References:
  • xml:lang how often used?
    • From: "bryan rasmussen" <rasmussen.bryan@g...>
  • Re: xml:lang how often used?
    • From: "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@C...>