Am 13.06.2014 16:56, schrieb Kunda Loves Scribus: > Ok proposal for group, > first the representatives: > RTL: Mossab > CJK: Hans > Scribus code code refactoring: Andreas > > > Needed: > * Code refactoring on PDF Extraction is needed before moving forward with > Mossab's RTL patch improvements > * CJK scripter that can implement Hans's consultations before > implementation of RTL > * Any other interested parties that have skills that can aid this process
I can start by writing a small document about the general issues with CJK. Some keywords: - Text flow either horizontally (Western style) or vertically/RTL - Therefore text flow of pages the same as Arabic (document starts at ?last? page) - Text is generally laid out on predefined grid (e.g. 80x20 characters) instead of only base line. - No spacing between words (except Korean) and different line breaking rules - Phonetic annotations (?Ruby? or ?Furigana?) between the lines - In vertical mode still sometimes in-line horizontal writing - Support for input methods (Linux: Fcitx, Ibus, UIM etc; Windows: MS IME) Well, I guess a Wiki page would be best to collect all the information (for CJK, RTL, also other non-latin scripts and even some latin scripts). The page should then be understandable by someone who cannot read the language. We can create a general wiki page called ?Language support? with subpages for every script group: Roman alphabet (there is still much work for them as well) Arabic/Hebrew Chinese/Japanese/Korean Indian scripts Thai etc... On the subpage, every expert will write as much as he can about the general script (well, can largely be referenced to Wikipedia, I guess) which is easily understood even if the reader does not speak the language. Then there should be typographic details explained. Maybe in order of importance (it cannot all be implemented at first, I guess. Top priority would maybe be to write single words correctly and after that a complete paragraph. Eventually a complete document/book). This should at best be referenced by typographic books. This should then also, with a help of a developer, be technically written: How could this be implemented in Scribus? Especially important is that there are connections between the different groups: CJK books are printed right to left, which is the same as Arabic. Indian scripts are connected (as far as I remember...), which is similar to Arabic. Mongol is written vertically, but from left-to-right (still some similarities with CJK). This is better as if every group does its own thing and we afterwards have 3 different methods to set the pages RTL. Also, if some implementation is done in advance (RTL does some progress now), it should easily be extendable to other languages. I myself would love to take part in the development, but unfortunately my programming skills are relatively basic and mainly limited to Python. Maybe as a training I will try to implement the general text layout in a PyQt demo, which can then be ported to C++.... But unfortunately I wouldn?t count on me able to finish it. One other thing: I think a _huge_ problem for Scribus is the general English image of Scribus. The web page is only in English, the ML is completely in English, the bug tracker is in English. Of course English is the lingua franca especially in software development, but this has the general effect that Scribus is generally a western project. I know that many Japanese do not speak English at all. Even if they are good programmers, they will be too scared to take part in such a English project. I think this is really a huge problem when wanting to have non-western participation. For starters, I think making the website multilingual would be a necessary step. Nobody without English knowledge even gets to the download page and therefore misses Scribus altogether (even though the software itself is translated!). Also, if possible, some people should act as intermediaries between English and other languages. For example, if a Japanese likes to contribute, he could write a message in Japanese on the web page and I could tell the others what he wants. We should actively promote communication from other languages. Writing ?Your contribution is welcome! You can write in your own language!? could be one step.
