W3C Internationalization, i18n

PUBLISHED!
Managing inline spaces in Chinese & Japanese

https://www.w3.org/International/articles/styling/inline-space

This article looks at ways of using CSS to add gaps between certain types of text, to reduce gaps between punctuation marks, and to manage paragraph-initial spacing. It describes what currently does and doesn't work.

The published version contains some additions arising from the review comments.

Thrilled to announce that issue #550 in Chinese Layout Requirements (clreq) has been fixed! Emphasis dots now stay properly centre-aligned with the text even after letter-spacing is increased.

https://github.com/w3c/clreq/issues/550

#i18n #WebStandards

FOR REVIEW: Managing inline spaces in Chinese & Japanese

https://w3c.github.io/i18n-drafts/articles/styling/inline-space.en.html (temporary URL)

This article looks at ways of using CSS to add gaps between certain types of text, to reduce gaps between punctuation marks, and to manage paragraph-initial spacing. It describes what currently does and doesn't work.

We are looking for comments by Thursday 7th May, 2026.

RUBY MARKUP
https://www.w3.org/International/articles/ruby/markup

Given recent progress on the Ruby Extensions spec, this article was updated and improved. It describes how to do various things, and what currently works and what doesn't.

See the new section about the rb tag at https://www.w3.org/International/articles/ruby/markup#rb

New translations into Chinese:

世界各地的地址格式 (Address formats around the world)
https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-address-formats.zh-hans.html

ECMAScript国际化API指南 (Guide to the ECMAScript Internationalization API)
https://www.w3.org/International/articles/intl/index.zh-hans.html

数字、货币和单位格式化 (Number, currency, and unit formatting)
https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-number-format.zh-hans.html

I18N GAP FIXED: Underlines too close to text in Arabic

See https://www.w3.org/TR/alreq-gap/#issue223_text_decoration

All major browser engines now support text-underline-position and text-underline-offset. These can now be used to lower the underline position.

However, there are still things to consider depending on the script, the font in use, and the browser, when setting an underline position.

For details, see the article Styling underlines. https://www.w3.org/International/articles/styling/underline

(Also covers vertical text and other aspects.)

NEW ARTICLE: Styling underlines

This article explores various ways in which CSS can be used to manage underlines for non-Latin scripts.

Rather than simply reproducing the spec itself here, we provide task-oriented guidance to help content authors achieve key techniques.

https://www.w3.org/International/articles/styling/underline

A NEW VERSION of
Requirements for Hangul Text Layout and Typography
한국어 텍스트 레이아웃 및 타이포그래피를 위한 요구사항
has been published.

https://www.w3.org/TR/klreq/

The content was rearranged to match the standard headings used for the W3C Language Enablement Framework.The document is still in English and Korean, with buttons to switch between.

Going forward, we will now begin adding new content.

Did you know that the mathematical value 1234.56 looks different in Boston, Berlin, and Bangalore? Hardcoding formats is a brittle and unsustainable approach to web design.

In our newest article, we break down how you can leverage JavaScript's native `Intl` API to effortlessly localize numbers, currencies, and units.

https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-number-format

FOR REVIEW: Styling underlines

This article explores various ways in which CSS can be used to manage underlines for non-Latin scripts.

https://w3c.github.io/i18n-drafts/articles/styling/underline.en.html

We are looking for comments by Thursday 19 March, 2026.

New translation into Chinese:

HTTP标头、meta元素与语言信息 (HTTP headers, meta elements and language information)

https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-http-and-lang.zh-hans.html

Thanks to Fuqiao Xue for providing this translation.

"Requirements for Hangul Text Layout and Typography
한국어 텍스트 레이아웃 및 타이포그래피를 위한 요구사항" was reorganised to conform to standard headings of the W3C's Language Enablement framework.

A short review period will precede publication. The new document is available at the temporary URL:
https://w3c.github.io/klreq/new

We are not looking for comments on the text itself at this point. We just want to check that the reorganisation of the material didn't throw up issues.

The review period will terminate on 12 March.

How should text-to-speech handle ruby annotations like furigana in Japanese or pinyin in Chinese so screen reader users get the intended experience?

We just published a new W3C draft note from the Internationalization Activity: Text-to-Speech Rendering of Electronic Documents Containing Ruby: User Requirements

This explores diverse reading strategies across writing systems and defines essential user needs.

https://www.w3.org/TR/ruby-tts-req/

#Internationalization #A11y

We just dropped two super useful articles:

- Addresses look wildly different around the world (order, details, even postal codes). This one explains the chaos and how to build forms/apps that don't frustrate international users.

- Easy guide to JavaScript's built-in Intl API, with real examples for formatting dates, numbers, currencies, etc., the right way for any language/region.

🔗 Addresses: https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-address-formats
🔗 Intl guide: https://www.w3.org/International/articles/intl/index

I18N GAP PROGRESS: Kashmiri Yeh glyphs in naskh fonts

Noto fonts no longer display the circle below KASHMIRI YEH in final and isolate forms of non-Nastaliq fonts. This includes, for example, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Sans Arabic, and Noto Kufi Arabic.

See https://www.w3.org/TR/alreq-gap/#issue287_fonts

QUESTION for UI experts in RTL and vertical scripts.

Should touch-action support logical directions?

See the discussion at https://github.com/w3c/alreq/issues/289