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Using Right-to-Left, Complex Text Layout, and Vertical Text
From NeoWiki
NeoOffice has strong support for languages that use non-Roman scripts, including those scripts which use bidirectional input and complex text layout, as well as support for the native Mac OS X input methods used by many of these languages. This means NeoOffice can be used to input Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Hindi, Chinese and Japanese, among many others.
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Right-to-Left (RTL) and bidirectional (bidi) text
The steps required to enable NeoOffice to enter text in right-to-left languages such as Arabic or Hebrew, or bidirectionally with both RTL and LTR languages, are fairly simple.
- If you have installed a language pack for an RTL language, the Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right toolbar buttons are enabled automatically in Writer
- If you have not installed an RTL language pack, enable the buttons manually:
- Choose Preferences… from the NeoOffice menu
- Expand the Language Settings section in the right-hand pane and click on Languages
- In the Enhanced language support section, click Enabled for complex text layout (CTL) checkbox; this will enable the Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right toolbar buttons
- To begin writing, first click the Right-to-Left button on the toolbar
- Use the Input Method (aka "Flag") menu to change the Mac OS X keyboard layout or input method, if necessary
- Begin typing
- To insert a section of LTR text, change to the appropriate LTR keyboard layout and type; to return to RTL, simply switch back to the RTL layout
Complex text layout
- ligatures and glyph reordering
- Java 1.4.2 is buggy; sends wrong glyph codes to Neo in certain cases [jp period, matras]
- Mac OS X bug, nothing we can do; file bug reports with Apple
- Requires AAT fonts for Arabic, Indic languages [link to fonts page]
Vertical text
Vertical text, used in classical Chinese and Japanese (as well as in Mongolian, which may not be supported) is somewhat non-intuitive to enter. The following are the steps Patrick Luby uses when testing vertical Japanese text input in Writer:
You can insert vertical text, but it is not intuitive. Here are the steps that I use when I test Japanese vertical input in Writer:
- From the View menu, select the Toolbars submenu and then the Drawing menu item so that the Drawing toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
- Click on the "T" icon that is rotated 90 degrees (i.e. the "fallen over" T icon).
- Click an area in the document and drag the mouse to create a box.
- Type your Japanese text in this box.
I don't really like this "text box" approach, but it is how OpenOffice.org (which NeoOffice is based on) handles vertical text.
References
Related External Links