Localization and Internationalization: Difference between revisions
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===Script Type=== | ===Script Type=== | ||
'''Alphabetic''': | |||
Individual units for writing are composed of consonants, and in some cases vowels. When compined they spell out words phonetically. Eg: Indic, Arabic, Latic, Greek etc. | Individual units for writing are composed of consonants, and in some cases vowels. When compined they spell out words phonetically. Eg: Indic, Arabic, Latic, Greek etc. | ||
'''Syllabic''': | |||
The individual units for writing are composed of syllables. Eg: Japanese kana and Korean Hangul | The individual units for writing are composed of syllables. Eg: Japanese kana and Korean Hangul | ||
'''Ideographic''': | |||
A writing system which uses pictures or symbols to represent words. Eg: Chinese | A writing system which uses pictures or symbols to represent words. Eg: Chinese | ||
===Context dependent Glyph Shaping=== | ===Context dependent Glyph Shaping=== | ||
'''Positional''': | |||
The shape of the character changes depending on the position in the word. Eg: Arabic greek. | The shape of the character changes depending on the position in the word. Eg: Arabic greek. | ||
'''Ligatures''': | |||
Characters combine to form a different shape when they appear next to one another. In Indic scripts ligatures are mandatory. | Characters combine to form a different shape when they appear next to one another. In Indic scripts ligatures are mandatory. | ||
'''Cursive''': | |||
The letters are joined while writing. | The letters are joined while writing. | ||
Arabic is an example.But English is not of this kind. | Arabic is an example.But English is not of this kind. | ||
===Text Direction=== | ===Text Direction=== | ||
'''Left to right''': | |||
Text is written left to right horizontally. Eg: Indic, English | Text is written left to right horizontally. Eg: Indic, English | ||
'''Bidirectional''': | |||
Examples are Arabic and Hebrew.Text is written right to left while numbers and latin words are written left to right. | Examples are Arabic and Hebrew.Text is written right to left while numbers and latin words are written left to right. | ||
'''Vertical''': | |||
In Chinese and Japanese text is written vertically | In Chinese and Japanese text is written vertically | ||
===Other Chracteristics=== | ===Other Chracteristics=== | ||
'''Diacritics''': | |||
Special marks used for accents, tones, and vowels, or to uniquely identify a character. In some writing systems such as Indic and Thai, diacritics can span multiple characters. | Special marks used for accents, tones, and vowels, or to uniquely identify a character. In some writing systems such as Indic and Thai, diacritics can span multiple characters. | ||
'''Word seperator''': | |||
Most of the languages use space as word seperator.Exceptions are Chinese, Thai , and Japanese | Most of the languages use space as word seperator.Exceptions are Chinese, Thai , and Japanese | ||
'''Punctuation''': | |||
Marks are inconsistent across writing systems | Marks are inconsistent across writing systems | ||
'''A detailed description of above writing systems can be found at [[wikipedia:writing system|Wikipedia page on Writing Systems]]''' | |||
==Unicode== | ==Unicode== | ||