RE: CSS Techs: 5.1 Specifying the direction of text

Richard Ishita wrote:
<blockquote>
Hmm...  Chaps, a number of worries/questions sprang into my mind when I
noticed this note.  I haven't followed any WAI threads on this subject,
just noticed it now.

[1] Why is this here?  What are the WAI issues involved?
</blockquote>
John replies: It's here because I hit the wrong key-- meant to send it
to WCAG, not WAI.  Sorry!

[2] The I18N group provides advice relating to use of CSS for bidi which
includes

[2a] Do not use CSS with documents served as text/html

[2b] Use bidi specific markup to hang the CSS on, rather than something
like .arabicsection

[2c] Only use this when the Unicode bidi algorithm is unable to do what
you want

[2d] &rlm; and &lrm; can sometimes be more effective than markup

Please take a look at the i18n stuff at the following locations before
responding:

http://www.w3.org/International/resource-index.html#bidi

In particular the article and techniques docs listed, plus the FAQ "CSS
vs. markup for bidi support".

Hope that helps,
RI

============
Richard Ishida
W3C

contact info:
http://www.w3.org/People/Ishida/ 

W3C Internationalization:
http://www.w3.org/International/ 

Publication blog:
http://people.w3.org/rishida/blog/
 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org
> [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Gez Lemon
> Sent: 08 December 2004 21:42
> To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
> Subject: Re: CSS Techs: 5.1 Specifying the direction of text
> 
> 
> Hi John,
> 
> > I'm having trouble understanding the technique-- the example isn't
> > clearly identified nor explained.
> 
> I agree; that particular technique would benefit from an
> example. I'm not sure if you're asking for someone to provide 
> an explanation and example, or just flagging it as an issue 
> that needs addressing. Just in case you're asking for an 
> explanation, in a nutshell...
> 
> The reading direction of some writing systems (for example, Arabic and
> Hebrew) is from right to left as opposed to left to right.
> The CSS direction property allows content authors to 
> determine the direction of the text. The possible values for 
> the direction property are, ltr (left to right), rtl (right 
> to left), and inherit.
> 
> The unicode-bidi property allows the direction of the text to
> be overridden, which is useful for documents that support 
> multiple languages. The possible values for the unicode-bidi 
> property are normal (doesn't change the level of embedding 
> with regard to the current Unicode direction), embed (opens a 
> new level of embedding, maintaining the implicit Unicode 
> direction), and bidi-override (opens a new level of 
> embedding, overriding the Unicode direction).
> 
> Example:
> 
> .arabicsection
> {
>     direction: rtl;
>     unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
> }
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Gez
> _____________________________
> Supplement your vitamins
> http://juicystudio.com
> Keeping developers informed!
> IWA/HWG Member
> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 8 December 2004 22:42:45 UTC