Touch Help needed with Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Urdu

[nmyshkin]

I don't want to replicate my XDA post here, but I need some eyes with knowledge of these RTL languages to see if I am making progress (as opposed to regress or digress) in my efforts to put together a Phase 3 build for the Phoenix Project that is geared to RTL languages.

Images posted in the thread here: https://xdaforums.com/t/nst-g-lookin...-urdu.4731967/

Comments, pointers, welcome.

Thanks!

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by nmyshkin

I don't want to replicate my XDA post here, but I need some eyes with knowledge of these RTL languages to see if I am making progress (as opposed to regress or digress) in my efforts to put together a Phase 3 build for the Phoenix Project that is geared to RTL languages.

In the Arabic text, the individual words are rendered correctly but they're arranged LTR not RTL.

I uploaded an RTL test epub some time ago that you could use for your tests. It should look like this:

[nmyshkin]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

In the Arabic text, the individual words are rendered correctly but they're arranged LTR not RTL.

I uploaded an RTL test epub some time ago that you could use for your tests

Thank you so much. The Arabic is very concerning as the specific patches were for Arabic. The reader app itself (FBReader) is supposed to be RTL capable and deals with Hebrew without any patching.

Obviously I have more work to do...

Edit: Mmmm........it's all backwards. So much for the claim that FBReader supports RTL. At least this version. Back to square 1. Thanks very much, again. The test epub will be very useful.

Edit2: I can't seem to make any headway with FBReader which is unfortunate. Of the three options I have it is the only one with partial e-ink refresh on the firmware that supports the Arabic patches. I have updated the images on the XDA post with versions of your test epub page using Moon+Reader and AlReader. Although AlReader is capable of partial e-ink refresh, it won't work on the firmware I must use :-(

And the DejaVuSans font is flummoxed by diacriticals, but people can always seek out specific language fonts rather than rely on the FallBack option.

Again, many thanks.

[Sarmat89]

Desktop versions of FBReader support at least Hebrew in RTL mode.

[nmyshkin]

Just a quick update on my project. It looks like liftoff! Updated post at XDA: https://xdaforums.com/t/nst-g-lookin.../post-90066898

[nmyshkin]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

I uploaded an RTL test epub some time ago that you could use for your tests. It should look like this:

Can you tell me what font you used for that display? All of the fonts I have tried have very poor diacritic alignment. Not sure if I can "setting" my way out of that.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by nmyshkin

Can you tell me what font you used for that display? All of the fonts I have tried have very poor diacritic alignment. Not sure if I can "setting" my way out of that.

The fonts are embedded in the epub. Simpy unzip it.

Noto Kufi Arabic (NotoKufiArabic-Regular.ttf)
Noto Sans Hebrew (NotoSansHebrew-Regular.ttf)

Both are Google fonts with permissive licenses.

[nmyshkin]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

The fonts are embedded in the epub. Simpy unzip it.

Thanks. That looks like bad news as the diacritics are still mostly out of place with either font. I guess that means the reader app itself (AlReader) may not be dealing with the font/epub dance adequately.

Edit: Mmm....it gets worse. Word selection for dictionary definitions is completely thrown off by the text with diacritical marks, selecting only one character (perhaps one without any marks). Yeesh.

[nmyshkin]

[oops!]