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(i18n) 'auto' value for the 'dir' attribute? #1491
Description
The i18n self test says:
Values for the default base direction should include left-to-right, right-to-left, and auto. more
We do not have this for dir, there is a default for page-progression-direction. We could be inspired by the HTML specification. Note that the behavior of dir can also be modeled (or referred to?) the HTML spec.
Activity
mattgarrish commentedon Jan 31, 2021
Looks like this was deferred because no one was asking for it at the time: #57
iherman commentedon Feb 1, 2021
This may be related, actually, to #1494: the value of
automay mean to rely entirely on the content of the string, directed by the UNICODE rules. In other words, if there is an agreement of #1494 that the attribute value wins in priority,automay mean what is said now. It would then also make sense to say explicitly thatautois the default value (something that, I believe, is not specified anywhere).xfq commentedon Feb 2, 2021
FYI - the i18n WG is working on a centralized definition of ltr/rtl/auto that specs can refer to (see also the discussions in w3c/manifest#926 ).
iherman commentedon Feb 2, 2021
Thanks @xfq.
@mattgarrish, looking at the text in w3c/manifest#926 (comment) (provided by @r12a) do you think it would be possible to reuse this, although the text would have to be spread over the content and RS specs? It would also mean introducing the term
auto, and would also close #1494.iherman commentedon Feb 9, 2021
The issue was discussed in a meeting on 2021-02-04
List of resolutions:
autoto thedirelement, resolved 1491 and 1499View the transcript
1. What should be the default value for the dir attribute
See github issue #1499, #1491.
See github pull request #1498.
Dave Cramer: Also going to talk about 1491 because they're related
… there is also a PR addressing this (#1498)
… most of the i18n issues we face are in HTML, SVG, CSS, where we rely on those specs
… our area of influence is the package doc
… the
dirattribute… it doesn't have a default value
… some guidance from i18n says we should have a default of
auto… lets the system decide what to do, which depends on them, and can be overwritten by
rtlorltr… we have a PR open to address this
… Matt has added this
… is this a good idea and will it break anything
…
ltr= left to right…
rtl= right to leftBrady Duga: I think there is some history we want to keep with HTMLs LTR by default
… for our case it makes sense to use
autobecause that's how things work now… the default is
auto… HTML doesn't have a default, but the root is LTR, but it also has more complex inheritance
Dave Cramer: I don't want to worry about the HTML situation
… there are complexities
… it seems to me that adding auto is risk free as a default
… I can't imagine writing a test where something would happen
Brady Duga: The scarier thing is the inherent directionality of the text winning over the
dirattributeDave Cramer: I wonder that too
… went down a rabbit hole
… stared into the abyss...
Brady Duga: If there's an inherent directionality, it wins over
dir,dirmight mean nothingDave Cramer: base paragraph direction over the bits of text within
… atomic elements of the package file that have no instructions
… instinct to have auto as a nice to have
… doesn't change existing behaviour
… the only person who needs to worry is the tester
… I would propose we resolve to add the auto value
… does anyone object
Dave Cramer: We got it! Moving on to 1494