[Idris couldn't reply to the list, so I'm forwarding it.] ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- Subject: Re: BiDi in ConTeXt Date Sent: Thursday, 11 November 2004 14:37 From: Idris Samawi Hamid To: Adam Lindsay , Dev Context [Please forward to dev-context@ntg.nl] On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 14:53:25 +0000, Adam Lindsay wrote:

Hi folks.

Hi Adam, & thnx for cc'ing me.

I just started thinking about further language support within ConTeXt now that the XeTeX-ConTeXt "basics" are done. XeTeX doesn't have the same character/line directionality control that is apparently in Omega, but it does control Right/Left typesetting fairly well.

I've been out of the loop on all things TeX for a while now (demands of my profession and other matters). I have a couple of general questions: 1. What exactly is the aim and purpose of XeTeX? 2. Since its apparently based on eTeX, and since bidi seems to be of interest, why not integrate it with the Aleph project, also eTeX-based (with an eye towards ConTeXt), and which already has the bidi stuff implemented rather well?

In particular, it makes a fairly big deal of its implementation of the eTeX beginR/beginL extensions. They seem to work fairly well in demos I've seen and simplistic tests I've done.

I was wondering about the bigger issues in terms of BiDi support, though. Do people want an interface that mimics Omega's \pardir command? Or is there a more simple/focussed/specific way?

If the idea is a kind of BiDi-Light (just paragraph and text), then implementing a subset of Aleph's functionality (such as \pardir and textdir) seems like a good way to go.

(I imagine I don't see a single \beginR in ConTeXt's source code because it relies heavily on proper font support, probably beyond what the TFM system usually offers.)

which is where we will need Aleph and Bidi-Full

Also, is dev-context the right place for a discussion like this?

Please also cc the Aleph list (and forward this thread) because others there may find your project interesting or useful. If things get off-topic ConTeXt-wise then the Aleph list would be a good place to continue. Is Giuseppe aware of all of this (I assume he's on dev-context)? Best Idris -- Professor Idris Samawi Hamid Department of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Adam T. Lindsay, Computing Dept. atl@comp.lancs.ac.uk Lancaster University, InfoLab21 +44(0)1524/510.514 Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK Fax:+44(0)1524/510.492 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-