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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 06/24/2012 10:40 PM, Dotan Cohen
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAKDXFkNr+fPzv9m61V5+49wqqQfXd=QKApC84_O=k-bj3vWODw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 7:30 PM, Shachar Shemesh <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:shachar@shemesh.biz"><shachar@shemesh.biz></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">There is a standard way to specify paragraph directionality in emails. It is
done through HTML. There is a standard way in HTML to specify
directionality. Unless a recent proposed change to HTML5 is accepted, the
first directional character of the paragraph is not it.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
I think that you mean that there is a standard way to specify
directionality in HTML, so if one needs directionality then he should
send HTML emails.
There is a way to specify directionality in plain text, too: U+202A
and U+202B (LTR- and RTL-Embedding characters).</pre>
</blockquote>
I disagree completely. The embedding control characters are designed
for, well, embedding. What the standard[1] suggests, but does not
require, is the use of the first strong directional character in the
paragraph. The reasons this does not work for email are:<br>
<ol>
<li>It is not required by the standard. It is suggested as a way
to determine paragraph directionality, but this suggestion is
incomplete. For example, the standard says nothing about what to
do with a paragraph with no strong directional character at all.</li>
<li>This suggestion is non-normative. The standard explicitly
states that a "higher level protocol" can be used to determine
this property.</li>
<li>HTML has chosen the "higher level property" as the BiDi
directionality path. Unless certain discussions currently in
effect become standard, HTML will not guess the directionality
of a paragraph ever, no matter how much you want it to. There
are some discussions about adding a "direction: auto" property
to CSS.</li>
<li>The only standard way to provide paragraph directionality in
email is by sending it as HTML</li>
</ol>
<p>A few takeaways. There is no standard I'm aware of that states
you SHOULDN'T use the first character in a paragraph to determine
paragraph direction in plain-text emails. I think that is a
perfectly reasonable approach. However, most of the world uses
various MS based email readers. Those don't do it, and they do not
violate any standard by not doing it. As a result, if you want
your email to be legible by any recipient, HTML mail is the way to
go if you are writing in Hebrew. Complaining to your recipient (or
sender) that they are not doing it properly is both impolite and,
which I feel many people here will see as worse, technically
incorrect.<br>
</p>
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cite="mid:CAKDXFkNr+fPzv9m61V5+49wqqQfXd=QKApC84_O=k-bj3vWODw@mail.gmail.com"
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<pre wrap="">
</pre>
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<pre wrap="">I know many people on this list don't like this standard, but this extra
email did nothing to change it (not that I, personally, think that changing
it is the right thing to do).
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
Are you referring to me, in regard to the discussion that we had in
which I think that the LTR- and RTL-Embedding characters should be
available in the Hebrew keyboard layout?</pre>
</blockquote>
No. I am referring to all those who complain so violently when HTML
mail is sent to the list.<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAKDXFkNr+fPzv9m61V5+49wqqQfXd=QKApC84_O=k-bj3vWODw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap=""> That doesn't mean that I
dislike the idea of using HTML. Actually, I don't like HTML mail but
not for that reason, rather a personal preference with no root in
ideology nor technical reason.</pre>
</blockquote>
Okay, so maybe I was referring to you after all :-)<br>
<br>
Shachar<br>
<br>
1 - By "the standard" I am referring here to the Unicode BiDi
Algorithm, technical report #9 of the Unicode standard.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Shachar Shemesh
Lingnu Open Source Consulting Ltd.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lingnu.com">http://www.lingnu.com</a>
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