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Fix RTL for Arabic, Persian and Hebrew languages


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8 hours ago, twinger said:

For limited amounts of RTL Hebrew inserted into a LTR text (like English), I've had good luck with this simple procedure:

  • Prepare the text in a Word Processor that supports RTL Unicode text (like LibreOffice Writer or MS Word). Often for my purposes I just cut and paste Hebrew text from a Bible programme that supports Unicode.
  • Use this website to flip it around: https://onlineunicodetools.com/reverse-unicode
  • Cut and paste the resulting text into AP.

Perhaps this will work for some other RTL languages, though I know it won't work right for Arabic. And I'm sure it's not a good solution when the entire document must be RTL.

Edit: I noted after posting this that the accent marks aren't actually in the right place, though the vowel points are. It's simple enough to create the text without the accents, or to move them manually in short segments of text.

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I have had the same issues with Farsi as APUB cannot deal with RTL and mirrors the text but managed to overcome this by using an app too.

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  • 6 months later...

Just to reply as a form of solidarity and voting for the proper and full support of RTL languages, especially Arabic and Farsi. I am currently learning Farsi for the purpose of culinary purposes and as mentioned previously and many...many times...Serif needs to somehow add Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Urdu as these are the major Middle Eastern languages with potential to poach users away from Adobe products.

My Hindi Devanagari is stronger than my Farsi.

I've expressed my disappointment with the lack of proper Indic languages in Affinity trio of products. Indic languages are LTR and should be "more easier" to adapt and implement than RTL.

I have to use the Glyph Browser and fix certain merging of Hindi alphabets (as an example). When entering Farsi, say for typing out names of Persian Food, I have to use the glyph and find the specific glyph that corresponds with the alphabet's position. It's cumbersome, but for my use (and needs), it is a band-aid fix.

If not for version 1.X, I and many others who are of RTL and LTR languages would like to have this in version 2. Heck, maybe raise the price a little bit. Even with a few raise in price, still BEATS renting software from Adobe!!!

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16 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

موفق باشید و نوش جان

I had to "cheat" and use Google translate. At the moment, it's not even preschool level. It took me a long time to identify each of the letters in your sentence. Isolated forms of meem and noon clearly stick out. 🙂

متشکرم.

Also, at the moment, a lot of my self-learning is memorizing specifically words and names and not yet sentence forming levels, if that make sense. If you had pasted "نجمیه باتمانقلیچ" I would instantly recognize that as the name of the super famous Persian chef, whom I am using her books to learn Persian cooking, etc.

Alas...not to get offtopic. 🙂

I make graphics for my self-learning in Affinity Publisher. Each simple word, I identify the individual letters and type them in AP via using Glyph browser. Copying and pasting does not work properly in any of the Affinity softwares.

Thats why (someone like me) I would REALLY like to have RTL support in the Affinity softwares.

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3 minutes ago, Ronald N. Tan said:

متشکرم

As a slightly Persian purist it is better to use Persian words where possible in place of Arabic loan words. While شکر root words are in common usage in Persian, سپاس /se'pās/ is completely Persian.

6 minutes ago, Ronald N. Tan said:

Each simple word, I identify the individual letters and type them in AP via using Glyph browser.

For words and short sentences I use LibreOffice with Complex Text Layout enabled. You can use LibreOffice draw, and export the words or short sentences from there as EPS or whatever. The fonts (even those with good RTL support) typically still break slightly but you can fix them up quite easily. 

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2 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

As a slightly Persian purist it is better to use Persian words where possible in place of Arabic loan words. While شکر root words are in common usage in Persian, سپاس /se'pās/ is completely Persian.

For words and short sentences I use LibreOffice with Complex Text Layout enabled. You can use LibreOffice draw, and export the words or short sentences from there as EPS or whatever. The fonts (even those with good RTL support) typically still break slightly but you can fix them up quite easily. 

I just figured out (with my extreme limited vocabulary) that the your original Farsi well wishes contained (romanized) nush-e jan or nush-e joon. "نوش جان" Which has the literal meaning of "may it be sweet for your soul" but my Chef Najmieh-joon uses that at the end of all her recipes in the equivalent of "Bon appetit."

I have looonnnnng ways to go.

I have Amiri font installed and I use PS to paste and made the words super huge on my screen.

I know certain circles prefer "durood" (درود) as a teaching way to say "Hello" instead of salam (سلام), which (again) I know has Arabic origins.

I apologize in advance as an outside and clearly learning Farsi...why would someone feel slight off, when the entire Persian alphabet is Arabic letters.

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9 minutes ago, Ronald N. Tan said:

why would someone feel slight off, when the entire Persian alphabet is Arabic letters

Apart from the 4 Persian letters which aren't in Arabic. The main thing is that Arabic is used as an alphabet, but Persian itself is not Arabic in root (apart from loan words). Iranians had several alphabets before using Arabic. I'm trying to learn one at the moment - Pahlavi. 

You are right about do'rood. It's not very common but I have encountered it.

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  • 1 month later...

I don't want my post to be here-say; however, with version 2 of the Affinity Suite around the corner and people seem to be bringing up "Version 2" talk on Twitter via search for the "@affinitybyserif" at-mention, I am truly hoping Serif will have a surprise for us who wants/NEEDS RTL support either for professional reasons or as indicated in my previous post history educational purposes in using Affinity suite of apps.

Regardless, as I am still a Creative Cloud subscriber for my profession in photography, Photoshop is my goto and fees for using PS (as the Photography Plan) is write-off for professional reasons, I am glad, grateful, and appreciative of Serif for making software (Publisher and Designer) affordable.

This is the AEC Magazine post referencing the already existence of a private version 2 of the Affinity Suite of software: https://aecmag.com/technology/serif-affinity-for-aec-firms/.

With this and knowing that 2 is around the corner, I remain hopeful, but will not be holding my breath for RTL support. Have a look at the Affinity Publisher (AP) users' plea for Endnote/Footnote support. That thread has literally 46 pages (!!!) of people asking and the usual Serif employee chirping canned responses.

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  • 9 months later...

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