Re: no xml:lang = Weak I18N for entry

["Bill Kearney" <wkearney@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Multiple languages per document can be tricky.

Especially when they require, or use, different character encodings.  Putting
japanese text (one of *several* possible encodings) inside an english feed
normally encoded as iso-8859-1 is one example.

Much of the trouble is borne out of developer ignorance.  It's what they don't
know that hurts them.

> I would like Atom to specify the default language when there is
> no xml:lang tag. If we don't spec that, then we force language-ID
> on every client that is language-sensitive. That is expensive and
> error-prone.

I'm opposed to being lazy about making language statements.  It's been my
experience this usually ends up causing more trouble than it would have been to
simply require the declaration.  We seen what a mess it is in RSS and would
prefer to see that avoid being repeated.

-Bill Kearney
Syndic8.com