Omer Zak wrote:
<quote>
There are several possibilities for improving the selection GUI
look&feel in this case:
1. Turn off BiDi ordering for the entire file (useful by itself for
blind computer users; not directly related to our problem).
2. Manually turn off BiDi ordering for a text segment (say, a paragraph)
and then manually turn it back on.
3. Use the metaphor of using one hand to straighten out a piece of paper
when writing using the second hand (or straightening a piece of cloth
while doing needlework): turn off BiDi ordering 5 glyphs before and 5
glyphs after the mouse position (as the mouse moves, we suppress
ordering of differing glyphs). Have them displayed with background
having different color.
(The exact numbers are to be determined by usability tests, and be
user-configurable through a setup menu. So is the background color to
be used in this case.)
4. Have a small pop-up window, which displays the text around the mouse
without BiDi ordering and let the user guide his mouse actions using the
pop-up display. The regular text display would be unchanged.
It would be nice to get Arabic speakers to be involved in this, as
Arabic presents a special problem - probably unreadable when the order
of glyphs is reversed without additional processing.
</quote>
Sorry to differ, but I cannot agree with Omer's proposals. Since we are
discussing usability, our target audience is not one of professionals with
Bidi awareness, but average joes who try to edit documents with the least
possible fuss. Showing unordered Bidi text to such people cannot be
considered as progress or clarification, IMHO. The moving window (item 3
above) is an interesting idea, but pushes the bafflement to high marks.
I have some contacts with Arabic experts, and I can tell you that for
their market, showing unshaped (improperly connected) letters, even in
proper ordering, is considered unacceptable. All the more with LTR
ordering.
Shalom (Regards), Mati
Bidi Architect
Globalization Center Of Competency - Bidirectional Scripts
IBM Israel
Phone: +972 2 5888802 Fax: +972 2 5870333 Mobile: +972 52
2554160
=================================================================
To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command
echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
