We tried the following:
(we're embedding fonts in all cases, also we don't have require any
input fields...we're just displaying Arabic)
-Copied Arabic text into a static text field...flash actually
reverses the characters. So we copied reversed text a static field.
Then when we published, it seems that the characters were not being
displayed correctly. An arabic reader took a look at it and told us
that the arabic characters didn't connect to each other correctly!
It's as if you took English script characters and broke them apart!
We then tried a few more experiments...
- copy and pasted Arabic text (normal order) into a dynamic
field...flash flipped it. But when you publish it for Player 8, the
order of the text is correct, but the characters looked disjointed
again.
-We published it for Player 7 and this time everything looked
perfect. The order of the text was correct and the characters looked
connected!!!
We basically have all the text assets in a separate .swf (published
for Player 7) and we're using it as a runtime shared library. Our
main app is published as Player 8.
Has anyone else seen this? Am I not doing something right here? I'm
shocked that support for Arabic (and I'm assuming other RTL
languages) took a step backwards from Player 7 to Player 8. I wonder
what it is in Player 9.
-James
On Apr 16, 2007, at 7:10 AM, nik crosina wrote:
Thank you very much, Danny,
Yes I thought that this post sank without a trace, lucky you saw it!
Fro the moment I jsut needed to know if there were any issues, as I am
tendering for an English course DVD that will be sold in the Middle
East.
Do I remember seeing your name on Director forums a long time ago?
Nik Crosina
On 4/16/07, Danny Kodicek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> HI,
>
> It now transpires that the project I am quoting for needs
> much of it done in Arabic. As it is my first multi language
> project in Flash are there any issues with that in Flash (I
> could write an encyclopedia full about Director and its
> characater set issues)
Just got back from holiday and noticed this post which doesn't
seem to have
had any replies.
Arabic in Flash is possible but tricky. Exactly how tricky depends
on what
exactly you need to do. Just putting static Arabic text on screen
is easy -
no different from Roman. Dynamic text is essentially okay, but you
need to
watch out for RTL and Bidirectional issues. One major issue is
that Flash
behaves differently for embedded and non-embedded fonts. Text
rendered using
non-embedded fonts uses the OS-level text renderer, and so renders
the text
using the standard Bidirectional algorithm. For single-line text
this is
perfect (although we didn't test for a very wide range of OS's and
browsers
- I suspect there might be some niggles on various combinations); for
multiple-line text you'll find that line breaks do not get added
correctly
(words get broken half-way across) so you'll need to add your line
breaks
directly into the dynamic text. Text rendered using embedded fonts
does not
render correctly: it has the same line-break issues as before, but
also it
renders LTR and fails to correctly interpret the Arabic characters
into
their cursive variants (that is, join them correctly to give the
'handwritten' style that Arabic text should have). There are ways
around
this, including some code libraries (check out FlashRTL).
Personally, I
prefer this option as you're in more control - I hate leaving
things to the
OS unless I absolutely have to!
Of course, the above also depends on the *source* of your dynamic
text: if
you're in complete control, you can store the text directly as the
characters that will appear on-screen. But if it's coming from
something
like an external XML file or some other data source, you'll need
to consider
these issues.
If you want input text, you're in a different kettle of
crustaceans. We
managed to solve it, but it was a big job. There aren't currently any
available commercial solutions to this, but hopefully as soon as I'm
finished with my enormous globalisation job that's taken me the
best part of
a year, we'll be releasing my solution in some form.
Danny
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Nik C
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