Source Browser ?

1% language=us runpath=texruns:manuals/bidi
2
3\startcomponent bidi-introduction
4
5\environment bidi-style
6
7\startchapter[title=Introduction]
8
9With \CONTEXT\ you can typeset in two directions: from left to right and from
10right to left. In fact you can also combine these two directions, like this:
11
12\startbuffer
13There are many {\righttoleft \maincolor \it scripts in use} and some run into the
14other direction. However, there is {\righttoleft \maincolor \it no fixed relation
15{\lefttoright \black \it between the} direction of the script} and cars being
16driven left or right of the road.
17\stopbuffer
18
19\typebuffer
20
21\getbuffer
22
23Even someone not familiar with right to left typesetting can see what happens
24here, or not? In fact Luigi Scarso pointed out that the \type {fixed} reversed
25into {\righttoleft \type {fixed}} but not in the example where {\bf fixed}
26becomes {\righttoleft \bf fixed}. This signals an important property of the way
27the text gets processed: you input something, at some points font features get
28applied (like ligatures) and in the end the resulting glyph stream is reversed.
29By that time the combination of {\bf f}+{\bf i} has become {\bf fi}! So, be
30prepared for surprises.
31
32This manual is written by a left to right user so don't expect a manual on
33semitic typesetting. Also don't expect a (yet) complete manual. I'll add whatever
34comes to mind. This is not a manual about Hebrew or Arabic, if only because I
35can't read any of those scripts (languages). I leave that to others to cover.
36
37This is work in progress and might always be! So expect errors and typos. As with
38anything related to typesetting the truth about how it should be done and what
39looks best is not absolute. So, the most we can offer is flexibility and the way
40\CONTEXT\ is setup permits that.
41
42Of course this is not possible without input. When we moved to \CONTEXT\ \LMTX,
43the bidi thread was picked up by Mohammad Hossein Bateni, Idris Samawi Hamid,
44Wolfgang Schuster and myself. So, expect more!
45
46\startlines
47Hans Hagen
48Hasselt, NL
49\stoplines
50
51\stopchapter
52
53\stopcomponent
54