Subject: hreflang attribute should be allowed to be empty as well

From: Anne van Kesteren <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 13:11:51 +0200

I think that the HREFLANG attribute[1] should be allowed to be empty as 
well, just like xml:lang is allowed to be empty.

[1]<http://atompub.org/2005/04/18/draft-ietf-atompub-format-08.html#rfc.section.4.2.9.4>

-- 
  Anne van Kesteren
  <http://annevankesteren.nl/>

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From: Asbjørn Ulsberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 17:01:33 +0200

> well, just like xml:lang is allowed to be empty.

I'm +1 to this. It makes sense.

-- 
Asbjørn Ulsberg     -=|=-    http://virtuelvis.com/quark/
«He's a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away»

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From: Robert Sayre <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 11:09:30 -0400

> well, just like xml:lang is allowed to be empty.

Why would we want that? xml:lang uses the empty string to halt
inheritance, if necessary. hreflang doesn't have that problem.

Robert Sayre

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From: Thomas Broyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 19:07:15 +0200

> well, just like xml:lang is allowed to be empty.

xml:lang is allowed to be empty to override a previous, inherited, 
xml:lang declaration without specifying a new language.

As xml:lang doesn't apply to the content of the linked resource, 
hreflang does not need to allow an empty value. If you don't want to or 
can't specify the language of the linked resource, just omit the 
hreflang attribute.
We might want to distinguish those two cases: not providing a language 
hint vs. explicitly telling the linked resource can't be "language 
qualified" but I'm not sure why this would be needed and what would be 
the difference (interop, accessibility, etc.)

However, we may need to make clearer that an xml:lang doesn't apply to 
the linked resource.

-- 
Thomas Broyer

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From: Anne van Kesteren <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 10:51:45 +0200

> inheritance, if necessary. hreflang doesn't have that problem.

You are right. Ignore the suggestion. (Having it might make some things 
easier for publishers, but not that much.)

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From: Martin Duerst <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 10:31:10 +0900

-1. Thomas explains it all very well below.     Regards,    Martin.

 >
 >As xml:lang doesn't apply to the content of the linked resource, hreflang 
does not need to allow an empty value. If you don't want to or can't 
specify the language of the linked resource, just omit the hreflang attribute.
hint vs. explicitly telling the linked resource can't be "language 
qualified" but I'm not sure why this would be needed and what would be the 
difference (interop, accessibility, etc.)
the linked resource.