[tests/repo/results/css-ruby] Is the-dir-attribute-069.html correct?

[tphamg]

[source] (https://w3c.github.io/i18n-tests/results/the-dir-attribute-auto#dirauto) [en]

the-dir-attribute-069.html test stipulates:
When dir='auto', the direction is set according to the first strong character of the text, ignoring neutrals and numbers. If there is no strong character, as in this test, the direction defaults to LTR.

However, according to the spec, https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/dom.html#the-dir-attribute, if no character with L, AL, or R directionality is found, "the directionality of the element is the same as the element's parent element's directionality."

Although the spec does include:
"Otherwise, if the element is a document element, the directionality of the element is 'ltr'."

However, in this test, the element is not a document element, so this clause doesn't seem to apply.

Am I misreading the HTML spec, or is there a particular passage in the spec which says the default should be LTR in this case?

[aphillips]

I do not think you're misreading the HTML spec. The intention was that the value of dir default to the direction of the parent element. This allows a document to set RTL at a higher level (such as, ultimately, on the document element) and have it cascade down to children--such that the page author doesn't have to set every single block element's dir.

So I think the problem here is the wording in the test description.

[tphamg]

The test itself has a parent element with "dir='rtl'" set. However, the expected result of the test is that the text is LTR. So it seems like the spec says to inherit RTL, but the test says to use LTR.

[r12a]

I'm inclined to agree with @tphamg that this test is at odds with the spec text, and i suspect that the behaviour expected by the test may be incorrect (even though it seems to be supported by 3 major browsers).

The relevant test code is this:

<div dir="rtl">
<p dir="auto">@123!</p>
</div>

Apart from the ordering of characters on the line, the test expects the sequence @123! to appear to the left of the line (since dir=ltr), whereas the spec expects it to appear to the right (since the context is rtl).

The ramifications of this can be seen in a set of paras in a RTL context, where one para has no strong directional character. Should the list look like this (per test):

Or like this (per spec):

This is one of the tests created by Aharon and @matial. Mati, any thoughts?