Closed iherman closed 3 years ago
Whatever the decision for the RSS system is, I believe it is better to add this §4.3 of the RS spec.
I am not 100% sure why this restriction is present.
CSS advises people not to use direction
with HTML documents:
Because HTML UAs can turn off CSS styling, we recommend HTML authors to use the HTML dir attribute and element to ensure correct bidirectional layout in the absence of a style sheet. Authors should not use direction in HTML documents.
Basically, fantasai told us never to use direction
:)
But... do we allow RS-s to turn off CSS styling? Ie, is this relevant for us? (O.k., there are older RS-s that do not do CSS at all I guess...)
In any case, I believe this argument should be in the text because, at this moment, it really looks like a fairly ad-hoc constraint. Also, if I read the CSS text, it is a 'recommend' and not 'RECOMMEND'. In other words, we have made it a MUST NOT, which means RS-s have to check this, epubcheck have to test it, RS-s have to do something if it is violated, etc...
Wouldn't it be possible to change the text so that:
But... do we allow RS-s to turn off CSS styling? Ie, is this relevant for us? (O.k., there are older RS-s that do not do CSS at all I guess...)
There was at least one prominent reading system years ago (Stanza) that completely ignored the author stylesheet.
EPUB already forbids this (and has since at least EPUB 3.0), in keeping with guidance from the CSS Working Group. EPUBCheck enforces this.
What is the benefit of relaxing this restriction, going against the advice of everyone who has ever looked at the issue? Is it worth changing the spec and changing EPUBCheck?
What happens if I use SVG (which does not have a
dir
attribute, only language, or abdo
element)?
It has a direction attribute and unicode-bidi attribute with bidi-override
value (presentation attributes directly mapped on the CSS properties).
Aren't those equivalent?
What happens if I use SVG (which does not have a
dir
attribute, only language, or abdo
element)?It has a direction attribute and unicode-bidi attribute with
bidi-override
value (presentation attributes directly mapped on the CSS properties).Aren't those equivalent?
Oops, I missed that! Then, even if we do not change the text, we would have to refer to those, too. The current text only refers to HTML.
What is the benefit of relaxing this restriction, going against the advice of everyone who has ever looked at the issue? Is it worth changing the spec and changing EPUBCheck?
Maybe not. But if we keep it as is (module the reference to the SVG things) then we have to specify what a RS has to do if and when it encounters such a value.
Is it worth changing the spec and changing EPUBCheck?
Actually... is this a testable assertion? It is, but it would require checking not only the validity of the CSS files (which, I presume, EPUBcheck does) but also analyzing the CSS files to detect the usage (or not) of these terms (which, I presume, EPUBcheck does not).
If my suspicion (ie, that EPUBCheck does not detect this) is correct, then a change would not affect any deployed EPUB instance.
@rdeltour ? @danielweck ?
@iherman EPUBCheck does report this as an error. See the test cases for CSS-001.
If it becomes a SHOULD in the spec, downgrading the severity is an easy change.
@rdeltour wow! I stand corrected...
The issue was discussed in a meeting on 2021-04-09
List of resolutions:
Closing by virtue of #1627 having been merged.
I never understood why not use CSS direction attribute. As someone who works with RTL languages all the time, the direction seems to me as belonging to CSS more then HTML so I am happy that W3C has decided to give both options. I don't see any reason why a RS should behave differently.
-- Ori Idan CEO Helicon Books http://www.heliconbooks.com
On Tue, Apr 6, 2021 at 11:56 AM Ivan Herman @.***> wrote:
§3.3.2 http://localhost:8001/LocalData/github/EPUB/epub-specs/epub33/core/#sec-css-req says:
- It MAY include any CSS properties, with the following exceptions:
- It MUST NOT use the direction property [CSS-Writing-Modes-3]. Use the [HTML] dir attribute to set the inline base direction.
- It MUST NOT use the unicode-bidi property [CSS-Writing-Modes-3]. Use [HTML] bdo elements and dir attributes to control bidirectionality.
I am not 100% sure why this restriction is present. However, two questions do arise:
- What happens if I use SVG (which does not have a dir attribute, only language, or a bdo element
- What should be the behavior of a RS be if it finds one of these two properties (in HTML). Is it a "MUST ignore" ?
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§3.3.2 says:
I am not 100% sure why this restriction is present. However, two questions do arise:
dir
attribute, only language, or abdo
element)?