Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Remove unnecessary gendering.
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
tabatkins authored and foolip committed Dec 16, 2015
1 parent 24ce416 commit 08c9912
Showing 1 changed file with 20 additions and 20 deletions.
40 changes: 20 additions & 20 deletions source
Expand Up @@ -25387,7 +25387,7 @@ the time Maria had stuck her tongue out...&lt;/p></pre>

<div class="example">

<p>In this example, a user is asked to pick his preferred colour from a list of three. Each colour
<p>In this example, a user is asked to pick their preferred colour from a list of three. Each colour
is given by an image, but for users who have configured their user agent not to display images,
the colour names are used instead:</p>

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -26054,7 +26054,7 @@ of various sizes."></strong></pre>
(e.g. a Webcam), or because the page is being generated by a script using user-provided images
where the user did not provide suitable or usable alternative text (e.g. photograph sharing
sites), or because the author does not himself know what the images represent (e.g. a blind
photographer sharing an image on his blog).</p>
photographer sharing an image on their blog).</p>

<p>In such cases, the <code data-x="attr-img-alt">alt</code> attribute may be omitted, but one of
the following conditions must be met as well:</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -26111,7 +26111,7 @@ of various sizes."></strong></pre>
<div class="example">

<p>A blind user's blog in which a photo taken by the user is shown. Initially, the user might
not have any idea what the photo he took shows:</p>
not have any idea what the photo they took shows:</p>

<pre>&lt;article>
&lt;h1>I took a photo&lt;/h1>
Expand All @@ -26122,7 +26122,7 @@ of various sizes."></strong></pre>
&lt;/figure>
&lt;/article></pre>

<p>Eventually though, the user might obtain a description of the image from his friends and
<p>Eventually though, the user might obtain a description of the image from their friends and
could then include alternative text:</p>

<pre>&lt;article>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -48209,7 +48209,7 @@ ldh-str = &lt; as defined in <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1034#

<pre>&lt;label>Cc: &lt;input type=email multiple name=cc>&lt;/label></pre>

<p>If the user had, amongst many friends in his user contacts database, two friends "Arthur Dent"
<p>If the user had, amongst many friends in their user contacts database, two friends "Arthur Dent"
(with address "art@example.net") and "Adam Josh" (with address "adamjosh@example.net"), then,
after the user has typed "a", the user agent might suggest these two e-mail addresses to the
user.</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -50194,7 +50194,7 @@ You cannot submit this form when the field is incorrect.</samp></pre>

<div class="example">

<p>Here, the user is offered a set of options from which he can select any number. By default,
<p>Here, the user is offered a set of options from which they can select any number. By default,
all five options are selected.</p>

<pre>&lt;p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -53101,8 +53101,8 @@ out of 233&#x2009;257&#x2009;824 bytes available&lt;/meter>&lt;/p></pre>
document</span> is the same as <var>target</var>'s <span>top-level browsing
context</span>'s <span>active document</span>, abort these steps.</p></li>

<li><p>If the user has indicated (for example, by starting to type in a form control) that he
does not wish focus to be changed, then optionally abort these steps.</p></li>
<li><p>If the user has indicated (for example, by starting to type in a form control) that they
do not wish focus to be changed, then optionally abort these steps.</p></li>

<li><p><span>Queue a task</span> that runs the <span>focusing steps</span> for the element. User
agents may also change the scrolling position of the document, or perform some other action that
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -53531,7 +53531,7 @@ out of 233&#x2009;257&#x2009;824 bytes available&lt;/meter>&lt;/p></pre>
that the control's input data is particularly sensitive (for example the activation code for a
nuclear weapon); or that it is a value that will never be reused (for example a one-time-key for a
bank login) and the user will therefore have to explicitly enter the data each time, instead of
being able to rely on the UA to prefill the value for him; or that the document provides its own
being able to rely on the UA to prefill the value for them; or that the document provides its own
autocomplete mechanism and does not want the user agent to provide autocompletion values.</p>

<p>The "<dfn><code data-x="attr-fe-autocomplete-on">on</code></dfn>" keyword indicates that the
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -57781,7 +57781,7 @@ fur
<hr>

<p>The <dfn><code data-x="attr-menuitem-title">title</code></dfn> attribute gives a hint describing
the command, which might be shown to the user to help him.</p>
the command, which might be shown to the user to help them.</p>

<p>The <dfn><code data-x="attr-menuitem-default">default</code></dfn> attribute indicates, if
present, that the command is the one that would have been invoked if the user had directly
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -74744,7 +74744,7 @@ interface <dfn>ElementContentEditable</dfn> {
<p>However it is implemented, drag-and-drop operations must have a starting point (e.g. where the
mouse was clicked, or the start of the selection or element that was selected for the drag), may
have any number of intermediate steps (elements that the mouse moves over during a drag, or
elements that the user picks as possible drop points as he cycles through possibilities), and must
elements that the user picks as possible drop points as they cycle through possibilities), and must
either have an end point (the element above which the mouse button was released, or the element
that was finally selected), or be canceled. The end point must be the last element selected as a
possible drop point before the drop occurs (so if the operation is not canceled, there must be at
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -77227,7 +77227,7 @@ dictionary <dfn>DragEventInit</dfn> : <span>MouseEventInit</span> {

<p>User agents should take care to not start drag-and-drop operations in response to script
actions. For example, in a mouse-and-window environment, if a script moves a window while the user
has his mouse button depressed, the UA would not consider that to start a drag. This is important
has their mouse button depressed, the UA would not consider that to start a drag. This is important
because otherwise UAs could cause data to be dragged from sensitive sources and dropped into
hostile documents without the user's consent.</p>

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -89229,14 +89229,14 @@ interface <dfn>NavigatorContentUtils</dfn> {
data-x="dom-navigator-registerProtocolHandler">registerProtocolHandler()</code></dfn> method
allows Web sites to register themselves as possible handlers for particular schemes. For example,
an online telephone messaging service could register itself as a handler of the <code data-x="sms
protocol">sms:</code> scheme, so that if the user clicks on such a link, he is given the
protocol">sms:</code> scheme, so that if the user clicks on such a link, they are given the
opportunity to use that Web site. Analogously, the <dfn><code
data-x="dom-navigator-registerContentHandler">registerContentHandler()</code></dfn> method allows
Web sites to register themselves as possible handlers for content in a particular <span>MIME
type</span>. For example, the same online telephone messaging service could register itself as a
handler for <code>text/vcard</code> files, so that if the user has no native application capable
of handling vCards, his Web browser can instead suggest he use that site to view contact
information stored on vCards that he opens. <ref spec=SMS> <ref spec=RFC6350></p>
of handling vCards, their Web browser can instead suggest they use that site to view contact
information stored on vCards that they open. <ref spec=SMS> <ref spec=RFC6350></p>

<dl class="domintro">

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -89265,7 +89265,7 @@ interface <dfn>NavigatorContentUtils</dfn> {

<p>User agents may, within the constraints described in this section, do whatever they like when
the methods are called. A UA could, for instance, prompt the user and offer the user the
opportunity to add the site to a shortlist of handlers, or make the handlers his default, or
opportunity to add the site to a shortlist of handlers, or make the handlers their default, or
cancel the request. UAs could provide such a UI through modal UI or through a non-modal transient
notification interface. UAs could also simply silently collect the information, providing it only
when relevant to the user.</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -89722,7 +89722,7 @@ interface <dfn>NavigatorContentUtils</dfn> {
<li>The user registers a third-party content handler as the default handler for a content
type.</li>

<li>The user then browses his corporate Intranet site and accesses a document that uses that
<li>The user then browses their corporate Intranet site and accesses a document that uses that
content type.</li>

<li>The user agent contacts the third party and hands the third party the URL to the Intranet
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -95769,7 +95769,7 @@ interface <dfn>WorkerLocation</dfn> {
<div class="example">

<p>For example, a page could have a checkbox that the user ticks to
indicate that he wants insurance:</p>
indicate that they want insurance:</p>

<pre>&lt;label>
&lt;input type="checkbox" onchange="sessionStorage.insurance = checked ? 'true' : ''">
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -96198,7 +96198,7 @@ dictionary <dfn>StorageEventInit</dfn> : <span>EventInit</span> {
context">browsing contexts</span> that could access it.</p>

<p>This can restrict the ability of a site to track a user, as the site would then only be able
to track the user across multiple sessions when he authenticates with the site itself (e.g. by
to track the user across multiple sessions when they authenticate with the site itself (e.g. by
making a purchase or logging in to a service).</p>

<p>However, this also reduces the usefulness of the API as a long-term storage mechanism. It can
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -96238,7 +96238,7 @@ dictionary <dfn>StorageEventInit</dfn> : <span>EventInit</span> {
<p>If this information is then used to present the view of data currently in persistent storage,
it would allow the user to make informed decisions about which parts of the persistent storage
to prune. Combined with a blocklist ("delete this data and prevent this domain from ever storing
data again"), the user can restrict the use of persistent storage to sites that he trusts.</p>
data again"), the user can restrict the use of persistent storage to sites that they trust.</p>

</dd>

Expand Down

7 comments on commit 08c9912

@chaals
Copy link

@chaals chaals commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

A better way to do this (using actually correct english) would be to tweak the language a bit further, so you have "a trusted site" instead of "a site they trust", "pick his preferred colour" to "pick a preferred colour", etc.

English (like most european languages) is gendered, and numbered (well, it at least has concepts of singluar and plural - weaker than e.g. slavic or arabic). Breaking the latter in an attempt to dispense with the former strikes me as a bad path to follow if you're trying to reform the way people think.

@cscott
Copy link
Contributor

@cscott cscott commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Yeah, someone should tell those guys Chaucer and Shakespeare not to use singular they.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

Although I'd certainly welcome additional patches to either rewrite to avoid gender or else use plural subjects (where everyone agrees that English is not gendered). We can collaborate.

@foolip
Copy link
Member

@foolip foolip commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Additional patches are indeed welcome, and I also like to think that we can collaborate :)

@Hixie
Copy link
Member

@Hixie Hixie commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

The spec uses Hixie English, which not only allows singular they, it actually requires it with a "should". To my knowledge this is the only normative definition of English.

@chaals
Copy link

@chaals chaals commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I would tell Shakespeare he got it wrong, but I'm prepared to limit my linguistic pedantry to the living (who therefore have a probability of actually determining the language…).

Is there really a normative definition of en-??-x-hixie? I thought there was just an algorithm: "Ask Hixie what he thinks. If he says yes, you're good. If not, you're chaals" ;) (There is also globish, which I think has a normative definition, and is english…)

I only fell on this by accident. I do applaud the goal of de-gendering the spec, whether it ends up meeting my particular linguistic preferences or not. And at some point I'll probably do some work on that which is usefully collaborative... but not yet.:(

@bugQ
Copy link

@bugQ bugQ commented on 08c9912 Dec 16, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

https://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/singular-they-and-the-many-reasons-why-its-correct/

The idea that it's incorrect and the prescription of alternatives wasn't even a concept until grammarians arbitrated such, and most people ignored them anyway. It's OK, really.

@Hixie
Copy link
Member

@Hixie Hixie commented on 08c9912 Dec 17, 2015

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

@chaals Normative definition is at http://ian.hixie.ch/bible/english (first google hit for [hixie english]).

Please sign in to comment.