Right to Left Support for Hebrew and Arabic

[LondonSquirrel]

43 minutes ago, thomaso said:

square Kufi style

Top marks for writing square Kufi(c). Kufic is not always square, but when it is it does lead to interesting patterns. To the uninitiated (as I once was) this is just a pattern:

[thomaso]

3 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

this is just a pattern

I assume reading Arabic calligraphy, especially if Kufic, often requires fantasy 😉

Whatever "yis" means. https://www.abbreviations.com/YIS

[ZaraJoon]

23 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Affinity would need to hire a developer who understands RTL text and what it looks like when done correctly.

@LondonSquirrel

I totally agree with you. The RTL languages, especially Persian and Arabic, are way more complicated than En or any Roman ones since they have connected letters for words. Even Adobe used to have a different version for InDesign (ME version).

But the reason that I think there is hesitation in adding this feature is that A.Designer and A.Photo are missing it too; On both desktop and iPad. Nobody won’t use Affinity Designer for Layout a book to need a complex setting! You only need to type a few words to design your poster or logo or whatever typography you need! And most of the time, these words will convert to curves. At least, it is what I do for my design work!  (I added some examples)

I replace photoshop with Affinity Photo, and I don’t even miss it for a second! But A.Designer and A.Publisher are different stories. Each time I had a project, I ended up buying CC for a month. So these two apps are suitable for a hobby, not professional work.

You may be right; this is such a big task that they are afraid to start. I did the same thing with my thesis!

 

18 hours ago, fde101 said:

It is not essential to me.  I never produce documents in multiple languages myself, so I have no use for it whatsoever.  I certainly see the value of being able to work in multiple languages, as many people do need that, and the possibility exists that I may one day have a use case for it (and thus I am interested in seeing this happen, though it is not nearly as high a priority as numerous other things that other people are similarly complaining about the lack of - cross-references for example are among the biggest ones for me, as are tables that span multiple pages; I also would like to see global layers added sooner than later).

As others have also stated, this is something that clearly takes time to get right, and that is time Serif could be spending on other features that are much more essential to many people, and which they can get in place much more quickly than they could offer this.

@fde101

The title for an app is not based on you and me; it’s based on how many useful features the app provides for all users. I count one, and you named two more. So this app, for sure, shouldn’t get that title.

 

P.S. انبه means Mango

 

 

[thomaso]

19 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Kufic is not always square, but when it is it does lead to interesting patterns.

Since we are there, here someone applied the squared style to Latin letters. https://thign.de/en/latin-square-kufic-script-in-use/
As not being able to read Arabic letters I wonder whether this English examples require more fantasy to get read successfully than general artistic Arabic calligraphy,   respectively squared Kufic text in particular only?

[Sir Doyle]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:22 AM, ZaraJoon said:

Hi @fde101,

I have used the Affinities since 2016, and in each release, I waited for this BASIC feature. I disagree with you. It is not a matter of priorities or team size. If they only assigned this task to one person to work on it part-time, they would have something by now; after six years! Every simple app right now supports both directions. For god’s sake, Tom Hanks’ typewriter app even has R-to-L! When Procreate adds the text feature, it supports both directions. So it is not that hard.

I can’t accept that they can’t add this; they don’t want to add it. And that’s fine, just tell us so that we won’t waste our time here.

And we really should ask Apple how they gave an “Editor’s Choice” title to the app that is missing an essential and simple feature. Maybe we should give the Affinities app a one-star rate so they start listening to us.

+1

[Ronald N. Tan]

With Version 2.0 around the corner as hinted by AEC Magazine's article on the 2.0 beta version of Affinity Suite of Software, I am truly hoping for the support of right-to-left (RTL) writing system in Affinity Publisher (AP). https://aecmag.com/technology/serif-affinity-for-aec-firms/.

RTL is long overdue and I can't believe Serif neglected the potential user-base of customers to poach/tap into. I was recently active in another RTL thread and posts going back to 2019 and some referencing a now expunged post going back even earlier for the lack to RTL support.

As always, I remain hopeful and optimistic that Serif will (eventually) deliver on the ability to have proper RTL support.

[Archangel]

Okay, I would like to add support for this feature.

Check out the Mirrored publisher file for a possible future workaround.

 

 

 

Mirrored.afpub

[NEALEVN]

Still no Right to Left and Top to Bottom for how many years?

That's what she said:

Publisher is the next generation of professional publishing software. From books, magazines and marketing materials, to social media templates, website mock-ups and more, this incredibly smooth, intuitive app gives you the power to combine your images, graphics and text to make beautiful layouts ready for publication.

Spectacular layouts
With essentials like master pages, facing page spreads, grids, tables, advanced typography, text flow, full professional print output and other amazing features, Affinity Publisher has everything you need to create the perfect layout – whatever your project.

Text to match the power of your words
Free yourself from the constraints of tired, traditional text layouts. Let Affinity Publisher help you visualise your text in creative new ways and flow it seamlessly through your document.

[icomposer]

How many years should we wait to get this feature available? It is ridiculous that especially Affinity Publisher does not support Right to Left Writing System!

 

[walt.farrell]

33 minutes ago, icomposer said:

How many years should we wait to get this feature available? It is ridiculous that especially Affinity Publisher does not support Right to Left Writing System!

 

You shouldn't wait at all. If the Affinity applications lack a function you consider critical then you should use a different application, which has the function(s) you need.

[NEALEVN]

Publisher 2 still a No?

 

I purchase full set but still don't find any sign of Top to bottom or Right to Left.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, NEALEVN said:

Publisher 2 still a No?

 

I purchase full set but still don't find any sign of Top to bottom or Right to Left.

No. Serif have said that providing RTL and vertical support is a major effort that will require a major rewrite of the text layout code. 

There was no reason to purchase it to find out, by the way. There is a free trial. And if it were provided it would be listed in the Affinity Store as a new feature.

[NEALEVN]

15 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

No. Serif have said that providing RTL and vertical support is a major effort that will require a major rewrite of the text layout code. 

There was no reason to purchase it to find out, by the way. There is a free trial. And if it were provided it would be listed in the Affinity Store as a new feature.

I purchased Version 1 half year ago and now Version 2, it's how we or just I support these software and the team, we need what we needed and we also want Affinity Serif going better and better.