This page is no longer up to date. Please follow this link, instead.
Mission
This task force does gap analysis and documents requirements, related to the layout and presentation of text in languages that use the Arabic script, in the context of Web standards and technologies such as HTML, CSS, Mobile Web, Digital Publications, and Unicode.
How to Join
We welcome participation requests from people who are interested in contributing to the work of the Task Force. There are two ways to get involved:
- Task force members are expert contributors who participate actively in producing the work of the group, regularly contributing text and advice to create the outputs, and participating in meetings. For more information about becoming a task force member contact Richard Ishida.
- It is also possible to follow and contribute to discussions without the commitment required in being an expert contributor. See the github home page for details
Organisation of the task force
The Arabic Layout Task Force is part of the W3C W3C Internationalization Interest Group (i18n IG). The Internationalization Working Group (i18n WG) oversees the work of the task force, and publishes the task force's document to the TR space.
The co-chairs of the task force are Shervin Afshar and Behnam Esfahbod. The chair of the Interest Group is Martin Dürst.
Internationalization at W3C
You can access the resources and news for the W3C Internationalization work at http://www.w3.org/International/.
The output of the task force is pointed to by the International text layout and typography index, and sits alongside similar work for other writing systems.
For information about layout and typographic requirements work for other scripts, see the page Layout & typography.
Work aims
The Arabic Layout Task Force will not produce Recommendation-track deliverables but expects to produce Working Group Notes, published by the Internationalization Working Group.
To find and follow progress on deliverables, see the GitHub repo.
The main deliverables include the following:
- Arabic & Persian gap analysis
Editor's draft - Text Layout Requirements for the Arabic Script
Editor's draft
The group charter also allows review of draft specifications produced by other working groups, and provision of translations of relevant W3C specifications and resources. The group may also choose to produce other non-normative deliverables, such as test cases and error reports, under the terms of the Policies for Contribution of Test Cases to W3C, and in coordination with any relevant working groups.
Communication
Most of the technical discussion takes place in the GitHub issues list. If you want to raise an issue with the documents, this is the place to raise it.
To follow the work, you can 'Watch' the repository, or subscribe to the public-i18n-arabic mailing list, which is notified once a day about changes to the repo. The www-international list is also notified daily. (Please use github issues rather than the mailing list to send feedback.) Meeting minutes are sent to public-i18n-arabic.
The group uses the Internationalization Activity home page to disseminate public information about its activities.
There is also a public-alreq-admin mailing list for internal and administrative use by the TF participants, for example for announcing teleconference agendas, new participants, preparing for publication, etc. or for discussing other non-technical, practical arrangements related to the group. Only participants in the task force are subscribed to that list.
The task force aims to hold teleconference or face-to-face meetings at least once a month, with additional meetings as needed to enable discussion and review status of the work.
The #alreq IRC channel is used for supplementary communication and minute-taking during meetings. Instructions for use are sent out with the meeting agenda.