MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - proper use and setting of text direction CSS vs structural in epub3

KevinH · 03-23-2018, 10:45 AM

I need help. What I know about using rtl text in general would not fill a thimble. I have been searching up on this to help "fix" how Sigil handles it.

Based on a web search, there seems to be a conflict about whether to use CSS or use the html5 attributes instead. I am talking about epub3 here but would also like to know what holds for epub2 as well.

From what I have been able to deduce is that under html5/epub3 the best way to set a direction for all text is to use the dir="rtl" attribute in the "html" tag itself (no dir attribute defaults to "ltr") and it will be inherited by all children of the html tag.

Then if your text contains words in "ltr" format, you simply add the dir="ltr" to a span or block level tag which encloses the text in the reverse direction.

No CSS is used.

This all seems well and good ...

BUT I have found lots of places that use CSS either in stylesheets or in inline style attributes to set the text direction such as the following:

Code:

<p style="direction: rtl;">blah</p>

along with no mention of the dir attribute on the html tag or any other tag.

This seems really confusing as I could be inheriting a text directions from an enclosing tag with the dir attribute and then directly conflict it by setting the opposite text direction with an inline style.

So can someone who knows about rtl text and the rules for epub3 and epub2 (if they differ) and what is really recommended and what passes epubcheck 4 under both versions please enlighten me.

03-23-2018, 10:45 AM	#1
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,805 Karma: 6000000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	proper use and setting of text direction CSS vs structural in epub3? I need help. What I know about using rtl text in general would not fill a thimble. I have been searching up on this to help "fix" how Sigil handles it. Based on a web search, there seems to be a conflict about whether to use CSS or use the html5 attributes instead. I am talking about epub3 here but would also like to know what holds for epub2 as well. From what I have been able to deduce is that under html5/epub3 the best way to set a direction for all text is to use the dir="rtl" attribute in the "html" tag itself (no dir attribute defaults to "ltr") and it will be inherited by all children of the html tag. Then if your text contains words in "ltr" format, you simply add the dir="ltr" to a span or block level tag which encloses the text in the reverse direction. No CSS is used. This all seems well and good ... BUT I have found lots of places that use CSS either in stylesheets or in inline style attributes to set the text direction such as the following: Code: <p style="direction: rtl;">blah</p> along with no mention of the dir attribute on the html tag or any other tag. This seems really confusing as I could be inheriting a text directions from an enclosing tag with the dir attribute and then directly conflict it by setting the opposite text direction with an inline style. So can someone who knows about rtl text and the rules for epub3 and epub2 (if they differ) and what is really recommended and what passes epubcheck 4 under both versions please enlighten me. Last edited by KevinH; 03-23-2018 at 11:10 AM.