Content-Language definition

[mnot@…]

2616 defines Content-Language as:

The "Content-Language" entity-header field describes the natural language(s) of the intended audience for the entity.

Some people have interpreted the "of the intended audience" as meaning that this header indicates the language of the user, not the language of the content. As a result (for better or worse), current practice in the i18n community is to ignore this header (although there are other reasons, e.g., the lack of accuracy in the event of multiple languages being present).

Proposal: remove "the intended audience for"

See also:

​http://www.w3.org/TR/i18n-html-tech-lang/#ri20040808.110827800

(raised by Norbert Lindenberg)

[julian.reschke@…]

I think it says what it says on purpose. Do we really want to change that?

[mnot@…]

Perhaps we can adjust the text to make it more clear, without changing the meaning. Norbert, any further thoughts?

See also:

​http://lachy.id.au/log/2010/06/content-language

[fielding@…]

The Content-Language does define the intended audience for the page, as is detailed in the examples within that section. Its purpose corresponds to that of Accept-Language.

[addison@…]

The W3C I18N Working Group supports closing this bug for the reason given by Roy Fielding. The resolution is recorded here:

​http://www.w3.org/2010/07/14-core-minutes.html#item05

Norbert requested that I update the bug on his behalf.