The proposed standard defines a non-standard unit for measurement in Part 4: ‘eight of a point’ (2.18.27). Also the proposed standard should use SI units instead of e.g. inches where applicable.

All used units should be standard or widely used units.

Part 4:
2.18.27

te

Proposed Disposition of DIS 29500 Comment FI-0010 (Modified: 2008-01-11) Although various units of measurement are used throughout the specification, we believe the units chosen are correct given the goals of the standard. An examination of the granularity allowed in the legacy binary documents was taken into account, and this formed the basis for each unit of measurement specified. As well, the decision to choose a specific unit of measure took into consideration the specific context in which it is used. In some cases a very granular unit of measurement is needed to properly preserve user data, while in other cases, that level of granularity may not be necessary. For example, fonts are typically specified in points or half points, so any level of granularity beyond half-point measures is unnecessary. 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. We also note that units such as inches are only ever used in examples; these could be augmented/replaced with the corresponding SI units, if desired.