<section id="symbol-explanation">

<h2>symbol</h2>

<section>

<h3>Description</h3>

<div class="property-description">

<p>The <code>adapt-symbol</code> attribute identifies the concept for symbols used in <abbr title="Augmentative and Alternative Communication">AAC</abbr> devices, etc., for users who cannot process traditional written language. The symbols are an alternative vocabulary, and multiple symbol sets exist today. These various symbol sets are, unfortunately, not mutually comprehensible so the individual familiar with expression via symbol set alpha is unable to understand expressions using symbol set beta. This specification exists to provide a web-based technological mechanism to select appropriate symbols from the set an individual user knows by using the <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> concept index, the current de facto standard for cross referencing symbolic representations among symbol sets extant in the world today.</p>

<p>The <code>adapt-symbol</code> attribute accepts a numeric reference number.</p>

<p>A personalization-aware user agent can then augment or transform User Interfaces by:</p>

<ul>

<li>converting content author text, annotated using numeric values from the <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> concept index into symbols in the user&apos;s preferred set,</li>

<li>facilitating symbol-set representation by loading and displaying symbols that the user is familiar with, so they do not have to learn new symbols across different applications environments.</li>

</ul>

</p>

<div class="note">

<p>It is important to understand that support for the world's languages, and the translation of content from one language into another occurs between written natural languages. At no time is there any expectation of translation among symbols themselves. Such a concept remains undefined. Multiple <abbr title="Augmentative and Alternative Communication">AAC</abbr> symbol sets are supported by this specification because users of one symbol set generally cannot comprehend symbols from a different symbol set. Thus this specification facilitates the expression of concepts in the <abbr title="Augmentative and Alternative Communication">AAC</abbr> symbol set an individual user knows based on <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index values as the common concept interchange.</p></div>

<p>In those natural languages where an expression can differ based on gender and verb tense, more than one <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index value may be needed to map the expression to a symbol. In such situations content authors should join multiple <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index values in order to map to a single conjugated symbol by using a plus (<code>+</code>) sign (with no spaces between the <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index values).</p>

<p>When no individual codepoint exists to express the textual content, multiple <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index values MAY be conjugated by listing two or more concept index values together, separated only by a plus (<code>+</code>) symbol. The order of multiple concepts should be the same as used in typical speech in the natural language of the content.</p>

<p>The numeric values utilized to map to symbols MUST be published <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index values. These can be obtained from the <a href="https://w3c.github.io/aac-registry/">W3C Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Symbols Registry specification</a> [[aac-registry]].</p>

<div class="note">

<p>The <a href="https://w3c.github.io/aac-registry/">W3C Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Symbols Registry specification</a> is not yet at First Public Working Draft (FPWD). When it reaches this milestone, we will seek to republish this document as a Candidate Recommendation (CR).</p>

</div>

<div class="note">

<p>This specification is focused on allowing authors to make one-to-one mappings from parts of their content to concepts as defined by <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr>. The rendering of the appropriate symbols for the user would be handled by the user agent, extension, or assistive technology. It is anticipated that symbol selection for rendering would take the form of a simple look-up.</p>

<p>Whilst this specification is not focused on rendering, here are some notes on the expected process, which may be of interest for authors and implementers.</p>

<ul>

<li>The <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index value may map to one rendered symbol, or possibly more than one rendered symbol, in the user's chosen symbol set. This is because the user's chosen set may not have a single symbol to represent that one concept.</li>

<li>A mapping from a <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> index value to the user's chosen symbol set would exist, enabling a user agent to render one (or more) symbols for that index value.</li>

<li>An extensible, standard mapping URI resource utilizing a <a href="https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#registries">W3C Registry</a> will be developed for <abbr title="Blissymbolics Communication International">BCI</abbr> concepts also cross-referencing corresponding symbols in multiple, available symbol sets.</li>

<li>Authors should not assume that one index value maps to one symbol&mdash;though authors should not need to make any assumptions about rendering, other than ensuring their content can be resized and will reflow, as per WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria 1.4.4 <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/resize-text.html">Resize Text</a> and 1.4.10 <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/reflow.html">Reflow</a>.</li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

</section>

<section id="symbol-example">

<h3>Examples</h3>

<p>Here are some examples using the <code>adapt-symbol</code> attribute.</p>

<ol>

<li>Symbols for individual words.

<pre class="example" title="Symbols for individual words">&lt;span adapt-symbol=&quot;13621&quot;&gt;Cup&lt;/span&gt; of &lt;span adapt-symbol=&quot;17511&quot;&gt;Tea&lt;/span&gt;</pre>

</li>

<li>Symbols used with an image (<code>alt</code> text represented as a symbol).

<pre class="example" title="Symbols used with an image">&lt;img src="cup.png" adapt-symbol="13621" alt="Cup"/&gt;</pre>

</li>

<li>Symbols with conjugation. In this example a symbol is used for "her name" for the conjugated Hebrew word, <span lang="he" dir="rtl">שמה</span>. The plus sign is used with no spaces to join the conjugated values, "her" (14707) and "name" (15691). If the gender is not important, you can just use the value for name (15691).

<pre class="example" title="Symbols with conjugation">&lt;img src="her-name.png" alt="שמה" adapt-symbol="15691+14707"/></pre>

</li>

</ol>

</section>

<section>

<h3>Characteristics</h3>

<table class="property-features">

<thead>

<tr>

<th scope="col">Characteristic</th>

<th scope="col">Value</th>

</tr>

</thead>

<tbody>

<tr>

<th class="property-related-head" scope="row">Related Concepts:</th>

<td class="property-related"><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/microdata/#the-basic-syntax">microdata</a></cite> [[microdata]], <cite><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-swbp-skos-core-guide-20051102">SKOS Core Guide</a></cite> [[swbp-skos-core-guide]] and <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/rdfa-primer/">RDFa [[rdfa-primer]]</a></cite></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<th class="property-applicability-head" scope="row">Used in Roles:</th>

<td class="property-applicability">All elements of the base markup</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<th class="property-descendants-head" scope="row">Inherits into Roles:</th>

<td class="property-descendants">Placeholder</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<th class="property-value-head" scope="row">Value:</th>

<td class="property-value"><a href="#valuetype_uri">URI</a></td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

</section>