Feature request: support new language

[CodeIter]

Hi,
please support arabic language

[admin]

Hi CodeIter, I'm hoping this will happen at some point, but it probably won't be that soon, I'm afraid. Though YouMeScript does already allow arabic input, there are several problems with right-to-left scripts, and getting the formatting decent will be somewhat involved. PDF export (about to arrive), doesn't currently support all UTF-8 scripts. I'm honestly not sure right now how that's going to get fixed.

One issue I have with several languages, is that not speaking them, I have problems validating open-source dictionaries, and providing sensible spell-checks. There is also the question of the auto-text, things like INT, CUT TO, THE END etc. I've had good help with the Spanish, so that will probably get the auto-text first.

Many thanks for trying YMS though, sorry if for now it's not as much use for you as I hope it may be eventually.

[howard_roark]

Hi! First of all, great tool!!! THANK YOU.

Second, all we 'foreigners' need is right-to-left support (Alignment and Text Direction as most modern word processors allow). The rest is not that important.
I already use youmescript to write my scripts in Hebrew. There is an easy workaround to overcome the PDF exporting problem: I just print it to PDF, and it works. But the alignment is still not right.
What I do is I transfer the formatted text to a Google Docs document and set my alignment there. It works, and it looks great. I really wish I could set alignment and text direction in the app so that I won't have to go back and forth.

I could not find a Unicode-supporting screenwriting software that does not have alignment issues with right-to-left written languages, especially with punctuation at the end of sentences (which shows in the beginning instead). How about being the first one?

[admin]

Hmm, when you put it like that, it does become pretty tempting... I'll take another look at what it would entail.

Apart from alignment, does YMS work okay in Hebrew? What other adjustments would be necessary?

[howard_roark]

It works just great. Here's a screenshot to demonstrate:
http://imgur.com/a/7mchA

[admin]

I was looking at it again yesterday, and, bearing in mind that anything is 'doable', but the real question is 'doable with realistic allocation of time and resources'...

- It looks like displaying right-to-left (rtl) is doable, as is right-alignment.
- The font you're seeing isn't pretty (read: wow, it's hideous), but it is at least mono-spaced. If you know of a good mono-spaced Hebrew font that handles vowels etc correctly, let me know (mono-spacing is important, as the length of a page etc is calculated by actual line counts, which depends on characters per line, and changes to that would be a fair amount of work).
- Would you need to combine rtl and ltr in the same script?
- Arrow keys, home, end etc, do they need flipping?
- Margins flip? ie 1.5" right, 1" left

[admin]

...also:

- page numbers and page-header layout?

[howard_roark]

- That's great news!
- Don't know a better looking mono-spaced Hebrew font. Some popular (although not mono-spaced) Hebrew fonts are Arial, David & Miriam, if that's of any help.
- Left & right keys need flipping. Home & end keys work just fine.
- Flipped margins will certainly suit Hebrew better, but it is not a must.
- Page numbers look good. As for page-headers, I am not a pro user yet so I do not know - but as a general rule, everything that was aligned a certain way should be align the opposite way (and I believe this is the case for any rtl-written language).

Also, I'd like to offer a 'nice to have' feature that is not vital but could make a difference for some people - especially if it is not time consuming.
Hebrew (as well as Arabic, Japanese, Thai, Korean...) does not have capital letters. The acceptable solution is to have the scene headers (and sometimes even the characters' names) Bold. Here are some examples...
http://tasrit.im/wp-content/uploads/201 ... inutes.pdf
http://tasrit.im/wp-content/uploads/201 ... ofsize.pdf
http://tasrit.im/wp-content/uploads/youth-tomshoval.pdf

Thanks a lot for considering this & listening, I really appreciate it...

[admin]

Well, I think I'd like to do this. Can't promise anything on the timing, but it should actually fit okay with some alternative format stuff I'm working on (alternative formats are going to be upgrade features, and likely this will be too, in which case you're going to have to spring the $20, I'm afraid.)

[howard_roark]

Even though it does not fully fit my needs yet, I just became a pro user to show my support and gratitude for your awesomeness & for the project.