Right to Left Script Support

[Rebecca]

I love your app! (Here it comes...) *BUT* I use it to study Arabic and so far the downloads are a very messy job. i.e. I might write something like (+)ملابس using the (+) to indicate plural. It looks this way in text edit, but then it comes out like +)ملابس( or some such in the download.

Thanks!

[Ernie]

The layout of Arabic is controlled by Apple's programming. The only thing I would be able to suggest is to play with the formatting a bit. Maybe putting a space between the two would help. Maybe you need to put left/right aligned items on different lines. One way to do this is to use the | character (shift \) to force a new line in the text. Finally, if you want to send me a deck code of some sample text looking funny, do so and I'll see if I can figure anything out.

Ernie

[Guest]

I first entered "ملابس(+)" directly into the iPhone. There doesn't seem to be a way to input the "(+)" *after* the word however. I prefer it to come after (on the left,) though, of course, this isn't a big deal. My biggest problem is with imputing Indian (used in Arabic) numbers within the parentheses. ie, I typed in "كلم(١)" of, rather, tried to. It comes out as you see it here, though, when I type it into the software, it shows correctly in "edit card" (as in, when viewing the main edit page,) though, not on the card itself.

The problem may be with in Apple formatting. When I enter the card, it starts me going from right to left. If I select the option provided by apple to move it to the other diction, this is when the "كلم(١)" problem occurs. Or, I guess, you could say the app flips it from right to left to left to right.

I guess what I'd like, is the ability to edit natively in a right to left format, without it being flipped around.

(The option to move it from right to left to left to right occurs when holding down your finger on the text. Two arrows appear going in opposite directions.)

Thanks!

[Ernie]

I don't have any experience with right to left languages. Things seems to work ok for me after playing with it a bit. Download deck code "Test88". I created the text in notepad and copy-pasted into my website. I'm showing (+) both before and after and one with parenthesis around. It also seem to work when I typed the (+) into the app. I didn't tap the arrow to move it to the left, but kept it right to left. The one goofy thing is that the flashcards seem to flip the (+) to the other side, vs what is shown in the card edit screen.

I don't know of anything to tell you. Hopefully you can get something to work ok for you. If not, I really don't know what to fix/change so it does work. Text entry/editing and displaying of text is not something that we programmers have to worry about... these are functions built into the iPhone, written by Apple.

[Rebecca]

Thanks, well, I guess it's not your area, and I understand that. Just for clarification, though, putting a non-shared symbol with a left to right language. ie كلم(١)

1=١

The thing which bothers me is it looks correct on the "edit card" page, but not on the card. Not just in the screen where I type in the characters. So, it looks like the above on the edit screen, but comes out as

كلم(١)

This is annoying. Livable, I guess, though. It's overall and amazing app!

[Ernie]

The way the text is displayed between the two screens is different... one uses a "label" and one uses a web page. Maybe their web page layout needs some fixing.

If I don't include the last parenthesis, it seems to work right. Maybe doing some adjustment like that will help it look more presentable.