Editing the CLDR Spec

Out of date. Spec is in markdown.

This is a basic guide to editing the spec. We'll add to this over time.

Location

The LDML Spec (TR35) for CLDR is maintained, just like the data files and tools. It is divided into multiple parts:

As we convert to the multiple parts, we need to make sure that all the links on Compatibility Links continue to function.

The plan is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqRLrRqNEKv-dDdUNklJTXpQcENuT1RvQXZQU2dMRlE#gid=1, with details on the sections at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqRLrRqNEKv-dDdUNklJTXpQcENuT1RvQXZQU2dMRlE#gid=0.

Editing

The CLDR Spec is one of the Unicode Technical Standards, so it has a very specific format. When you edit it, you want to make sure that you follow the guidelines in this document.

Don't mess with the HTML

If you use a WYSIWYG tool, make sure that it doesn't make arbitrary changes to the HTML.

Mark all changes

New or changed text should be marked with <span class="changed">, and text to be removed marked with <span class="removed">. Note that <span> can't cross block elements like <div>, <p>, <td>, and so on. So if you are changing a bunch of text within a table or multiple paragraphs, you have to mark each one separately. This is MUCH easier to do with a WYSIWYG editor. 

Use Styles

Fix links

Every <hX> should be of the following form, with the name, href, and the <a> surrounding all the text. By having both name and href, it is "double-linked"; users can get a link to that point in the text just by clicking. All header tags (after Contents) should be in the Table of Contents.

    <h4><a name="Numeric_Codes" href="#Numeric_Codes">3.1.1 Numeric Codes</a></h4>

Every table, and figure should be of the following form:

    <p class="caption"><a name="Legacy_Variant_Mappings" href="#Legacy_Variant_Mappings">Legacy Variant Mappings</a></p>

    <table>

(don't use <caption>Legacy Variant Mappings</caption>)

There are other details on the format at http://unicode.org/reports/tr-template.html.

Make sure the markup is clean

See Cleaning up the spec!

Validate the results

Run the following tools to make sure you haven't messed anything up. (You can just click on the links in Preview Mode.)

Diff the results

Before you check into CVS, make sure that you diff with the previous version, to make sure that you don't have any inadvertent changes. 

DTD / Structure Changes

You must follow the process on Updating DTDs!

Life-cycle

Ask Rick to do these steps at the appropriate times, to: http://unicode.org/repos/cldr/trunk/specs/ldml/tr35.html

See Big Red Switch document: http://unicode.org/cldr/big_red_switch.html for details on some of these.

References

Use the same style for references as other TRs. If you have a reference to an RFC, you can use links like http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4646#section-2.2. In the References section, use the 'canonical' (aka ugly) URL, eg http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt.

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