Re: Pango Status Report, 4 Apr 2000

["Nadav Har'El" <nyh math technion ac il>]

On Fri, Apr 14, 2000, Moshe Zadka wrote about "Re: Pango Status Report, 4 Apr 2000":
> 
> Speaking from experience, I'm not sure this is a good idea. Win95 had
> the Hebrew version mirroring stuff all over the place: it was horrible.
> RTL-language speakers are used to certain button locations already:
> there's no need to retrain them.

I disagree: it's true that most computer-savvy people (including me) prefer
to have the interface remain in English, and left to right; However, the
"normal" users, which I think are most of the users in Israel, expect the
entire interface to be translated into Hebrew, and most of the interface
mirrored: some parts definitely need mirroring (e.g., menu bar order,
radio button signs, etc.) while for some mirroring may be questionable
(e.g., the position of the "Start" menu on Windows) but certainly not wrong.

Again, sure all this mirroring looks strange to someone who has used the
English Windows for a long time and now has to get used to the new Hebrew
look. But a mirrored gui looks very natural to beginner Hebrew users.
When I was in Japan, I found the Japanese Windows very strange, but I'm sure
the Japanese themselves find it very natural!

This mirroring, and the language of the Gui, should be an option seperate from
the possibility of using text in other languages in the applications: For
example, I might want to have an English interface, but be able to write
text in Hebrew and French inside the application.

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