Re: [docbook-apps] Table reading order in right-to-left languages

[Peter Desjardins <peter.desjardins.us@gmail.com>]

Ah, thanks! I was failing to distinguish between input and output.

So my code does not need to care how a browser presents the sequence of columns.

Peter

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 12:10 PM, Bob Stayton <bobs@sagehill.net> wrote:
> Hi Peter,
>>
>> I assume that the columns in a table used in a right-to-left language
>> would be ordered sequentially from the right to the left. Can anyone
>> confirm or deny that?
>
> If I understand you correctly, I think I can confirm it.  Actually, it is
> important to distinguish between the input and the output.  I presume you
> are working with the XML input in your accessibility code.  In the XML
> source file, there is no left-to-right or right-to-left, there is only
> beginning to end, that is, the document order of the elements in the XML
> file. It is only in the output (or an XML editor's display, which is a kind
> of output) that presents things in left-to-right or right-to-left.  Think of
> the source markup for a table with the <entry> elements stacked one after
> another:
>
> <row>
>  <entry>Column 1
>  <entry>Column 2
>  <entry>Column 3
> </row>
>
> There is no direction there except beginning to end.  The first entry in
> document order is column 1, the second entry is column 2, etc.  When this
> table is formatted with writing mode set to left-to-right, then column 1 is
> placed in the left-most column.  When this table is formatted with writing
> mode set to right-to-left, then column 1 is placed in the right-most column.
>
> So, yes, when you view the output in a right-to-left format, columns are
> ordered sequentially from right to left.  But your code for processing the
> input does not require you to take that into account.  That is, your code
> does not have to determine the locale in order to do something different.
>  Your code works on the entries in document order, regardless of the output
> direction.
>
> Bob Stayton
> Sagehill Enterprises
> bobs@sagehill.net
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Desjardins"
> <peter.desjardins.us@gmail.com>
> To: "DocBook Apps" <docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 5:05 AM
> Subject: [docbook-apps] Table reading order in right-to-left languages
>
>
>> Hi, I am writing a customization to add HTML table cell attributes for
>> accessibility. Specifically, I am trying to write some logical rules
>> for associating body cells with header cells. Some of the logic I am
>> considering depends on the column sequence number.
>>
>> I assume that the columns in a table used in a right-to-left language
>> would be ordered sequentially from the right to the left. Can anyone
>> confirm or deny that?
>>
>> Is there any markup for DocBook 5.0 tables that establishes the
>> direction of the column sequence? Or are the DocBook tables designed
>> in a way so that direction is irrelevant?  I see some documentation in
>> the Definitive Guide for CALS tables that seems say that the first
>> column is assumed to be the one on the far left.
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>> Peter
>>
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>>
>
>