Bi-directional Language Solutions in MS Word
By Darron | Best Practices, General | No comment yet
Rolling out an e-learning module into other languages presents a number of challenges, none of which are as daunting as the prospect of having to localize into a bi-directional (bidi) language. Bidi languages run from right to left and include Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu and others.
Bidi text can cause trouble for a number of reasons:
1. Most of us develop in English on left to right systems (ltr), and right to left (rtl) languages can struggle on these systems.
2. Bidi languages can contain both ltr and rtl text. That text should be encoded differently, and that can cause flow issues.
3. Different software applications treat bidi languages differently. Some support it well, and some do not.
4. Some software applies its own encoding schemes, and that can be troublesome in conversion.
