Re: [I18n]mlterm with BiDi support
On Mon, 24 Dec 2001, Tomohiro KUBOTA wrote:
> Hello Shaul,
>
> At Wed, 28 Nov 2001 01:33:51 +0200,
> Shaul Karl wrote:
>
> > I hope that mlterm also takes into considerations the RTL (Right To
> > Left) languages. As far as I know these are Hebrew and Arabic.
> > Actually, BiDi (Bi Directional) might bemore suitable then RTL in this
> > context since users of these languages do expect to be able to combine
> > the other direction too. And by that I mean have Hebrew/Arabic text
> > combined with other languages text.
>
> mlterm version 2.1.0 with BiDi support using FriBidi will be released
> soon.However, some people insist that terminal emulators are not
> responsible for BiDi and application softwares are responsible (and
> thus terminal emulators should _not_ support BiDi).
>
> I think mlterm can satisfy such people by disabling BiDi support by
> using command option or configuration file.
I think that people here agree that bidi support in a terminal emulation
at the moment can not be perfect, and is bound to get in the way of the
user on several occasions.
However, it is still a big advancement. For instance: it allows you to
read Hebrew mail in pine or mutt properly in most cases.
So for me bidi support should be added, as long as there is an easy way to
disable it on *runtime* (not just on the command-line).
For instance: in Robert Brady's patch to xterm, bidi support can be
disabled through xterm's "features" menu. This is what I do in many cases
when I want to compose a Hebrew mail message.
>
> The point is, Shaul, do you think the BiDi support should be enabled
> by default or should be disabled by default?
[I am not Shaul, but]
What is the overhead of bidi support? Any reason someone might not want it
because of that overhead?
Other than that, it will only matter for people who run into RTL text. And
those people will probably want it on by-default.
--
Tzafrir Cohen
mailto:tzafrir@technion.ac.il
http://www.technion.ac.il/~tzafrir
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