The use of a fixed coordinate system that allows exact integer division of inches and centimetres is long established practise in typesetting systems. For example, gruff and PostScript. The English Metric Units of DrawingML is an example of this. However, it is inappropriate that common dimensions cannot be used, and adds an unnecessary burden on the user (i.e. the developer).

Throughout s5, wherever English Metric Units are currently allowed, the type should be broadened to also allow standard measurements such as inches and centimetres. Because these are lexically distinct, having unit suffixes, this should pose no trouble to parsers. The datatype will have to be adjusted accordingly, presumably to a regular expression pattern. As well all types that use EMU must be adjusted.

Part 4, S5 (throughout)

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Proposed Disposition of DIS 29500 Comment AU-0018 (Modified: 2008-01-11) As the commenter has pointed out, the use of EMUs allows for exact integer division of inches and centimeters, so conversion from common units to EMUs is a straightforward and simple process. We agree that units of measurement are treated in a few different ways in the specification. We believe that this is an appropriate approach given the goals of the standard and the different ways in which measurements are used. Each unit of measure was selected based on the granularity allowed within legacy binary documents for a specific context. We could provide implementers further control over the units of measurement, but we believe that has the possibility of adding additional complexity As an example of how further control over the unit of measure could be implemented, consider the following possible extension to the font-size element (Part 4, §2.3.2.6): <w:p> <w:r> <w:rPr> <w:sz w:unit="points" w:val="32" /> </w:rPr> <w:t>Sample text.</w:t> </w:r> </w:p> As another example, consider the following possible extension to the page-size element (Part 4, §2.6.13): <w:sectPr> <w:pgSz w:unit="inches" w:w="8.5" w:h="11" /> … </w:sectPr> These could also be accomplished as follows: <w:p> <w:r> <w:rPr> <w:sz w:val="32pt" /> </w:rPr> <w:t>Sample text.</w:t> </w:r> </w:p> <w:sectPr> <w:pgSz w:w="8.5in" w:h="11in" /> … </w:sectPr> Each of these approaches has merits and disadvantages. As such, we believe that the suggestion to add an additional attribute for specifying the units of measurement must be very carefully considered, as the wrong approach could add complexity for both producers and consumers. For this reason, we do not believe this should occur in the current version of the standard. A proper study of this would be undertaken as a maintenance activity, where the proper amount of time and discussion could be devoted to this subject ­ for example, the issues regarding defaults, supported units, and other details can be appropriately researched and decided.