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Subject: Behavior of <q> element
Hello, As requested at today's TC meeting, I'm sending a summary of the <q> issue and resolution. The issue is that the DITA specification is silent on whether authors or rendering tools / style sheets should add quotation marks when using the <q> element. As noted earlier, the latest draft of XHTML 2 says that authors or style sheets should add quotes; a draft of HTML 5 appeared to suggest that quotes should be added by the author inside of <q>. After speaking to IBM's representatives on the XHTML and HTML groups, we've found that the most recent HTML 5 draft actually states that quotation marks must not be added by the author; instead they must be added by user agents (such as stylesheets). Don Day, as chair of the DITA TC, is going to write to the XHTML / HTML groups pointing out that they appear to be diverging on the <q> element, in that XHTML still allows authors to enter the characters; both allow for stylesheets. Given our lack of stance on this in the past, and our statements of backwards compatibility, I'm reluctant to say DITA authors must or must not do something. So, based on our understanding of the X/HTML path, and based upon expectations expressed on this list, I would suggest the following: The DITA specification should recommend that authors do not add quote punctuation on their own, and that rendering tools or stylesheets should add appropriate styling (such as locale-specific quotation marks). Thanks - Robert D Anderson IBM Authoring Tools Development Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
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