Internationalization Tag Set

The Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) specification is a set of attributes and elements to support internationalization and localization in XML documents.

The ITS specification identifies concepts called "ITS data categories" that are important for internationalization and localization. It also defines implementations of this concept through a set of elements and attributes that are tied to the ITS namespace. XML developers can use this namespace to integrate internationalization capabilities directly into their XML schema or document.

Overview

ITS v1.0 contains seven data categories:

Translate

Defines the parts of the document that are to be translated or not to be translated.

Localization Note

Contains warnings, notices, instructions, and other information to assist the localizer or translator.

Terminology

Indicates that parts of the document are terms and pointers to information about these terms

Directionality

Indicates which type of writing direction is used for parts of the document

Ruby

Indicates which parts of the document as Ruby text display

Language information

Identifies the language for different parts of the document.

Elements Within Text

Shows how elements are treated in terms of linguistic division.

The ITS vocabulary had two design goals: First, to use ITS markup directly within an XML document. On the other hand, to recommend a method if there are parts of a corresponding markup that correspond to an ITS data category and are treated as such by an ITS processor.

ITS can be used both on new document types and on existing ones. It also applies to markup without any internationalization features, as well as to documents that already support corresponding internationalization or localization functions.

ITS divides into global rules and local rules:

• The global rules are expressed somewhere in the document (embedded global rules) or outside the document (external global rules). They are expressed by the its:ruleelement.
• The local rules are expressed by specialized attributes (sometimes also elements), specified within the document instance at a point where they apply.

See also

• i18n TAL , a standard for the internationalization of HTML and XML documents based on GNU gettext

Web links

• Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) version 1.0
• W3C Internationalization Home
• Best Practices for XML Internaltionalization (Working Draft)
• List of ITS implementations and articles about ITS