combining a block quote and the source of the quote using the cite element

[ManfredMuchenberger]

In order to support publishers in Germany the publisher organisation (Boersenverein) published EPUB3 accessibility guidelines.
https://www.boersenverein.de/beratung-service/barrierefreiheit/leitfaden-barrierefreie-epub3-e-books/
There is also a standing working group to further support publishers when new questions concerning accessibility arises.

We were recently asked about combining a block quote and the source of the quote using the cite element.

In the above guidelines, we recommend the following construction:

„Duis autem vel eum iriuredolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit.”

(Zitat-Quelle)

The DAISY knowledge base mentions in its FAQ that this is not permitted in HTML.
https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/html/quotes.html

Can you please point us to the part of HTML specification that makes this illegal?
And why should the cite element only contain the title and not the author?

[mattgarrish]

Hi @ManfredMuchenberger

We've had this question before, so if you look at the FAQ you'll find the answers there.

The first FAQ entry includes the part of the specification that prohibits this:

Attribution for the quotation, if any, must be placed outside the blockquote element.

That's a "must", so whether I would personally agree with it or not it's prohibited.

The html spec can’t ban cite from appearing inside of blockquote since it’s valid flow content, but a cite element has no implicit association that makes it relevant to a containing blockquote. How do you differentiate the use you want for cite, for example, from a quotation that itself is citing something? (The real-world confusion level is probably low, but the spec is what it is.)

I do get the point of the restriction. By placing the cite inside the quote, you’re effectively saying that the cite is part of the quote, not that it’s an attribution for the quote. The html spec makes this point in the text of the third example:

Here a blockquote element is used in conjunction with a figure element and its figcaption to clearly relate a quote to its attribution (which is not part of the quote and therefore doesn't belong inside the blockquote itself):

The fourth FAQ entry explains your second question. The quote from the cite element definition is:

The cite element represents the title of a work … A person's name is not the title of a work … and the element must therefore not be used to mark up people's names.

These aren't restrictions that the KB has added, in other words. You can get away with what you're suggesting because validators can't parse the meaning of the text, but you're violating the intent of the specification. We only promote what the standards consider best practice in the KB, so I can't change the guidance on that page unless the html specification itself changes.

[ManfredMuchenberger]

Thank you @mattgarrish for the good explanation. This helps a lot discussing the issue at the next meeting of the working group. I will come back to you if there are still open questions.
Best regards
Manfred