Andrew C. West wrote:
Also, note that the point of RTL Ogham is NOT to render it RTL per se, but as a
step towards rendering it BTT. A similar trick is used for Mongolian. In order
to get vertical left-to-right layout of Mongolian text (when no systems
currently support left-to-right vertical layout), one technique is to use an RTL
Mongolian font with the glyphs rotated 180 degrees. Then the text is written RTL
in lines going top to bottom down the page. You print out the result, and rotate
the sheet of paper 90 degrees, and Hey Presto! you have vertical Mongolian text
reading left to right across the page.
That's a hack, not a solution. Again, if you take the text out of the
presentational context you've warped it into, it doesn't make any sense.
The text shouldn't depend on the font or text orientation switches being
exactly right.
Unicode directionality shouldn't be used as a presentational property;
that's the problem CSS3 Text has right now.
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2003Apr/0116.html
~fantasai
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