IDREFs

IDREFs, or Internationalized Resource Identifiers, are a standard for identifying resources on the internet that can include characters beyond the basic ASCII set. They are an extension of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) and are defined by RFC 3987. Unlike URIs, which are limited to a specific set of characters, IDREFs allow for the use of characters from the Unicode standard. This expansion enables the use of characters from different languages and scripts, making the internet more accessible to a global audience.

The primary purpose of IDREFs is to overcome the limitations of traditional URIs, which were primarily designed for English-speaking users. By supporting a wider range of characters, IDREFs facilitate the creation and use of identifiers in various scripts, such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, and many others. This is crucial for internationalization and localization efforts on the web, allowing for more natural and intuitive resource naming in different linguistic contexts.

The syntax of an IDREF is similar to that of a URI, but it includes an additional component that specifies the character set used. This allows systems to correctly interpret and process identifiers containing non-ASCII characters. While IDREFs offer greater flexibility, their implementation requires careful consideration of character encoding and potential compatibility issues with older systems that may not fully support Unicode. The goal is to ensure that resources can be identified unambiguously, regardless of the language or script used in their identifiers.