[whatwg] internationalization/localization

[Martin Kutschker]

Matthew Raymond <mattraymond at earthlink.net> writes on 
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 23:09:55 +0200 (METDST):

> 
> The current spec uses a specific standard for submitting the date
> and time (ISO8601). (If the server needs it in a different format, is
> should perform an operation on the data before storing it.)


That's great and should not change.


> As for the date the user inputs, the UA should use the user's locale
> to determine the timezone.


What's the users locale? OS/UI settings? Browser settings?


> Theoretically, a webmaster might want to control how dates or time
> are entered. However, they can do this using a series of patterned
> text boxes or <select> elements.


That's what they currently do. Wasn't the idea to improve this?


> Webmasters will adjust and eventually learn to appreciate the uniform
> handling of dates and times.


Sending dates yes, displaying ... don't know. If the spec doesn't specify how it looks like it's IMHO unusable. As a web designer you just want to know how large the input field will be (eg "06-30-2004" vs "Wednesday, 30 June 2004"). So a date pattern used for input and output makes sense. Or the spec defines that a date should be displayed in the shortest possible way (no names of weekdays and months).

Masi