Re: [xliff-comment] XLIFF 1.2: semantics of value 0 in maxwidth attribute

Unfortunately, there seems to exist uncertainty about the semantics of value 0 in maxwidth attribute. I have seen/heard the following two interpretations:

 

1.       maxwidth=”0”  (size-unit=”char”): the translation may comprise an arbitrary number of characters (i.e. no length restriction exists)

The specification does not indicate the use of the value. but from a number of tools I’ve used treat a ‘0’ maxwidth as ‘no limitation on width’.  In my own opinion, a clean implementation of standard XLIFF 1.2 (whatever standard XLIFF actually is !!) would omit maxwidth in the case of the value being 0 to remove any ambiguity.

2.       maxwidth=”0”  (size-unit=”char”): the translation may not comprise any character (i.e. only an empty string is allowed)

 

Would you mind commenting on the correct semantic/interpretation?

The real issue here is that various tool implementations using XLIFF don’t make any statement on the treatment of these values.

 

Best regards,

Christian

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