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Re: writing hebrew html under linux



MF>> Under the html 4.1 specification at wc3 under the path
MF>> struct/dirlang.html#h-8.2
MF>> (I don't know the exact address because I downloaded a local copy).

http://www.w3.org/TR/html40/struct/dirlang.html#langcodes

MF>> One line stating this: (an example)
MF>> <Q lang="he" dir="rtl">...a Hebrew quotation...</Q>

I see. It seems that HTML4 standard allows to define non-standard
languages (up to "x-klingon"), so "he" is just another name. It's then up
to browser to see if it knows that "he" is Hebrew. The interesting thing
is that they say it's ISO-639 language name, and as we see, e.g., in 
http://sizif.mf.uni-lj.si/linux/cee/std/ISO_639.html

ISO code for Hebrew is, again, "iw". So, I think, it's just a mistake of
the man who did the page. You might write to them (they have mailing list
for those things, I think) and ask, why their examples contradict their
own standards. I suppose, the man who did this didn't have ISO handy, and
took a wild guess. 

So, the conclusion is:
ISO says the code is "iw", so says your Unix, so says W3C pages. But you
can define "he" or "x-ivrit-safa-kasha" to be Hebrew too, it's on your browser
to understand what it means. So if you make netscape to display "hb" with
hebrew charset, it's OK - Netscape will think "hb" is Hebrew for this
regard. But if you mean to be standard-compliant, stick to "iw".

-- 
frodo@sharat.co.il	\/  There shall be counsels taken
Stanislav Malyshev	/\  Stronger than Morgul-spells
phone +972-3-9316425	/\  		JRRT LotR.
http://sharat.co.il/frodo/	whois:!SM8333



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