.com	.ca	.co.uk
ISBN-10	0060513551	0823025810	0060513551
Cover
By	Comickers Magazine (ed)	Design Exchange	Design Exchange
Publisher	Collins Design	Watson-Guptill Publications	HarperCollins Design International

In this case, if I was to remain using my script as is, the page link to the Canadian site would be wrong because the link would be pointed to “0060513551” and not its correct pointer at “0823025810”
Strangely enough, the book I’m reading has the UK site information but the .com cover showing the full extended title, Japanese Comickers: Draw Anime and Manga Like Japan’s Hottest Artists.

I have been thinking about rewriting my script so I could include links to other non-Amazon affiliate sites. Looks like this will be a required change even if I just stick with links to Amazon.com locales. Changing it would mean I can provide separate if needed links. Especially if I had to reference a book that a site didn’t carry. This way only places that carry it would show links. Currently my script only uses the one reference point (ISBN-10) to access the three affiliate sites I now use. I’ll have to create a new table in my MySQL database for different affilate sites, their ISBN/GTIN numbers or product page locations and create a reference link to the table with the rest of the book info.

“Ruby” are short runs of text alongside the base text, typically used in East Asian documents to indicate pronunciation or to provide a short annotation. This specification defines markup for ruby, in the form of an XHTML module.

Here’s a sample…
Firefox’s ruby markup rendering:

Internet Explorer’s ruby markup rendering:

Here’s how it should look (ignoring the difference of font and font size):

So far Firefox (v1.5.0.7) is not rendering it correctly at all and strangely enough Internet Explorer (v6) shows the example correct but still has very little but at least some support. From the examples I tried myself, IE is OK as long as there is only one ruby text tag and one base tag. The main problem for me is that I don’t use IE on a everyday basis. I’ve seen ruby markup used in print (dictionaries) but the print world and web world can have vast underlining differences as pointed out in the article.

…the Web may lead to some phenomena and problems that are not present in traditional typography. Structural markup for ruby, as defined in this specification, cannot guarantee that ruby text will always be rendered alongside the base text. There are a very wide variety of current and future output devices for documents marked up with XHTML.

Anyone thinking that the web will cause print to be extinct soon shouldn’t hold their breath yet.

Update: There is now a .xpi extension available for XHTML Ruby Support by Hiroshi Shimoda