Images for invisible, whitespace, and combining characters

[xfq]

Images for invisible, whitespace, and combining characters

[xfq]

Previous discussions:

@fantasai wrote:

@aphillips What's the benefit of adding images for invisible characters? Is it really worth the cost to a) creating the images b) tracking the images with the specification text c) complicating the stylesheet and markup patterns and d) disrupting the paragraph line spacing?

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@aphillips wrote:

Regarding images, @r12a has been using them for some time and feels that they provide better usability. The images helps make invisibles clearer, at least in some cases. An argument can be made that the sometimes detract from the page and that it is a maintenance headache (especially with regard to echidna configuration), but it is somewhat optional. We might make it clearer that it is up the discretion of the author to use images if they so desire and to spell out the maintenance tradeoff.

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@xfq wrote:

It is not only useful for invisible characters, but also useful for combining characters. If the font doesn't support display with a dotted circle (U+25CC DOTTED CIRCLE), then an image is needed.

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@fantasai wrote:

@aphillips OK, I'm going to suggest we tackle that question separately.

[r12a]

We (the i18n WG) feel that it is certainly worth the (very minimal) cost to create such images, that the stylesheet and markup patterns are not complicated and have been established already, and we have taken pains to ensure that the images can be added without disrupting the paragraph line spacing.

We have been working on and discussing this small piece of markup for a long time now (far too long) and the i18n working group has achieved a consensus about how to proceed. I don't think it is reasonable to jump in and block this without having been involved in the discussions in a timely way, and even less so to allow through a subset of the markup without consultation. If an author thinks that providing images is not useful, then they don't need to provide them in their content. But let's not block their use by those who do think they are useful. The i18n WG already finds it useful to use such images in several of its documents.

[aphillips]

Should we just prepare a fresh pull request? I can reference this issue in the PR.

[r12a]

@aphillips i just noticed a typo in section 2.4.3.2

</cdode> should be </code>

[aphillips]

@r12a Thanks. See new PR (since this one is merged)