Direction and floats etc. (English to Arabic)

Is there any way of getting float statements, padding etc. to take
account of the directionality of a page (i.e. the direction:rtl )

For example I have an old simple web page that uses *shudder* tables
to lay out the images and text. If I wanted to create an Arabic
version of this page, I could simply add a rtl direction to the body,
translate the text, and hey-presto the images would automatically leap
to the opposite side to match the direction of the page.

In a standards based page, layed out using divs, and css based floats,
padding etc. whilst the text sticks itself to correct edge of the
object, the floats themselves don't change directionality.

So I then have to painstakingly revisit the css changing every
float:left for a float:right, every padding and margin needs also to
be flipped etc.

Acceptable when you have one or two pages, but a logistical nightmare
where there is a whole site to translate.

Is there a neat way of changing the directionality of floated objects
to match the text? Surely it can't be that uncommon for international
companies to translate their sites to languages with rtl text
direction!

Rufus.

Andreas Prilop

Guest

n/a Posts

June 27th, 2008
07:19 PM
#2

Re: Direction and floats etc. (English to Arabic)

On Wed, 11 Jun 2008, Join Bytes! wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Is there any way of getting float statements, padding etc. to take
account of the directionality of a page (i.e. the direction:rtl )

I have a small test at
http://www.unics.uni-hannover.de/nh...vocabulary.html
Make your window smaller to see how the text wraps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by

For example I have an old simple web page that uses *shudder* tables

There is nothing wrong with tables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by

So I then have to painstakingly revisit the css changing every
float:left for a float:right, every padding and margin needs also to
be flipped etc.

Or keep the tables.

--
In memoriam Alan J. Flavell
http://groups.google.com/groups/sea...:Alan.J.Flavell

Ben C

Guest

n/a Posts

June 27th, 2008
07:19 PM
#3

Re: Direction and floats etc. (English to Arabic)

On 2008-06-11, Join Bytes! <RufusA@gmail.comwrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Is there any way of getting float statements, padding etc. to take
account of the directionality of a page (i.e. the direction:rtl )

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by

For example I have an old simple web page that uses *shudder* tables
to lay out the images and text. If I wanted to create an Arabic
version of this page, I could simply add a rtl direction to the body,
translate the text, and hey-presto the images would automatically leap
to the opposite side to match the direction of the page.
>
In a standards based page, layed out using divs, and css based floats,
padding etc. whilst the text sticks itself to correct edge of the
object, the floats themselves don't change directionality.
>
So I then have to painstakingly revisit the css changing every
float:left for a float:right, every padding and margin needs also to
be flipped etc.
>
Acceptable when you have one or two pages, but a logistical nightmare
where there is a whole site to translate.

Indeed. There are certain things that will flip automatically
(text-indent, list item bullet positioning, list item indentation, which
margin gets overridden in overconstrained width calculations) with
direction, but also many things that don't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Is there a neat way of changing the directionality of floated objects
to match the text?

Your best bet is probably to use classes, and then a different
stylesheet for rtl, which sets float to the other direction (among other
things).