Tabular ruby markup support is needed for searching

[r12a]

@bobbytung reports how the currently supported model for ruby markup causes problems when searching for text.

When text is marked up in the normal mono-ruby way, searching will often fail. If you have the following markup (example from Makoto-san):

<p><ruby>漢<rt>かん</rt>字<rt>じ</rt></ruby></p>

and search for the word "漢字" in a browser, you will not get a result.

Same problem for Chinese. Here’s Bobby’s example, where bopomofo ruby is used. Bopomofo is naturally associated with each individual han character, so group ruby is not appropriate.

<ruby>天<rt>ㄊㄧㄢ</rt></ruby><ruby>氣<rt>ㄑㄧˋ</rt></ruby>

If you search for the base text "天氣" in the browser, you'll get no result. 

Tabular markup could solve this problem, but it’s currently not well supported by browsers. Tabular markup would present the text as follows:

<p><ruby><rb>漢<rb>字<rt>じ<rt>かん</ruby></p>