Additions for transcripts: inline chapter markers, paragraph separators

[gkatsev]

At TPAC 2022's TTWG session, Kim Patch joined to show their jury-rigged update to WebVTT to better handle transcripts: chapter heading and subheadings, and a paragraph separator. Both requested features are additions to WebVTT that made working with a single file easier for non-technical folks.

For the chapter markers, the idea is that you could have a single WebVTT file that includes the chapters inside them rather than requiring a separate WebVTT file like is done currently with kind=chapters. The request also included a way to include subheadings.

For the paragraph separators, the idea is that you could group WebVTT cues into a paragraph so that a transcript display of the WebVTT file could look more like prose.

https://www.w3.org/2022/09/15-tt-minutes.html#t04

[gkatsev]

In the time since TPAC, I've had some time to think on this, and while these are interesting additions that might be worth considering down the line, with the state of WebVTT currently, there isn't room for these features right now. Unless there's a large influx of requests for these features, I think they can go on the back burner.