(This is a personal response)

Hi Lachlan,

I didn't expect any other response from you, really.

At a minimum, I think we would expect a health warning or warnings in the API 
spec, since Selectors themselves don't address the issue. Our WG could 
recommend some appropriate text that is not too dire-looking.


> While I understand that the
> CSSWG have not yet adequately addressed the i18n issues in their
> spec, there's nothing I can do to resolve that.

I recognize that. For reasons I won't go into here, I note that lack of 
maturity in CSS3 doesn't block your advancement. But advancing your document 
without the issue being resolved might lead to a "de facto" standard that is 
hard to overturn/undo.
 
> I could not define any normalisation in this spec without
> indirectly
> affecting how selectors work in other specs that use them, like CSS.

I agree. But my concern looks something like:

- You publish; various interoperable implementations are created which do not 
address Unicode normalization. Normalization is not addressed, since CSS3 
hasn't dealt with it yet.

- CSS3 later decides to address normalization. One of two outcomes is possible:

   a. Defining normalization breaks the extant implementations; tough luck for 
the implementers.
   b. Everyone pretends that normalization isn't somehow important; tough luck 
for users.

We've been living in "world (b)" for some time now. The situation is becoming 
less pretty as more languages that use combining marks and compatibility forms 
come into common usage on the Web. So, as I said, I think it likely that our WG 
will want to help you advance in some useful (non-blocking) way. Our next 
meeting is tomorrow, so look for a formal response from us shortly.

Kind Regards,

Addison

Addison Phillips
Globalization Architect -- Lab126
Chair -- W3C Internationalization WG

Internationalization is not a feature.
It is an architecture.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lachlan Hunt [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:39 AM
> To: Phillips, Addison
> Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [selectors-api] Selectors API I18N Review...
> 
> Phillips, Addison wrote:
> > I am writing on behalf of the I18N Core WG who discussed the
> > Selectors API WD in our call of 3 December [1].
> >
> > We reviewed the Selectors API working draft. In reviewing this
> draft,
> > we did not find any internationalization issues in the text of
> the
> > document. However, we would like to point out that the CSS3
> Selectors
> > themselves have outstanding internationalization comments not
> > addressed in the current version of that document [4] and which
> would
> > (we think) impact anyone who were to implement the Selectors API.
> Our
> > comments on CSS3 Selectors are located at [2]. We also note that
> > Unicode Normalization is not treated anywhere in this draft or in
> > CSS3 Selectors.
> 
> I'm not sure how I can address this issue.  While I understand that
> the
> CSSWG have not yet adequately addressed the i18n issues in their
> spec,
> there's nothing I can do to resolve that.
> 
> Since this API defers all processing requirements for selectors to
> the
> selectors spec (with the exception of trimming whitespace), it is
> the
> responsibility of selectors to deal with Unicode normalisation
> issues.
> I could not define any normalisation in this spec without
> indirectly
> affecting how selectors work in other specs that use them, like CSS.
> 
> > We are concerned that changes in CSS3 might impact implementation
> of
> > Selectors API and/or the text thereof and think our concerns
> probably
> > should be addressed before Selectors API advances to the next
> level
> > of maturity.
> 
> I do not believe the limitations of Selectors can have a direct
> impact
> implementation of this API.
> 
> This is the last issue I need to address before asking to have this
> spec
> proceed to CR, so I would like to be able to resolve it as quickly
> and
> as easily as possible.  If you have any proposals as to how exactly
> I
> can address it, I will certainly try and do so.
> 
> --
> Lachlan Hunt - Opera Software
> http://lachy.id.au/
> http://www.opera.com/

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