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List:       koffice
Subject:    Implementing hyphenation / wordwrap for Thai
From:       Rudiger Koch <rkoch () sas ! co ! th>
Date:       1999-09-09 8:50:45
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Most stuff needed for Thai support is already provided by X (fonts) and KDE
(keymap). One important feature is missing, however:

word separation / Line breaks / word wraps

Thai script does not have whitespaces or any other markers between words. This
means KWord or KMail need to be intelligent enough to find word or syllable
boundaries to break a line. Currently they break a line whereever the end of
the line is reached. To illustrate that:

                ThislooksprettymuchlikeaThaisentence.

A dictionary based proggie that can separate words is sort of working now.

I guess there are other languages with similar problems (Japanese, Arabian,
Hebrew, Pali, Sanskrit)? The problem is very much related to hyphenation
in European languages. 

How to tell KWord, KMail, Kxxxx about the linebreak? I suggest that the chosen
approach should:
- be accessible by any K-App that wants to make use of that.
- include hyphenation
- be general enough to support languages that read from right to left
  or top to bottom
- allow dictionary / rule based approaches
- allow morons like me who are totally ignorant about KOM / OpenParts
  to implement the rules of their languages any way appropriate for that
  language
- allow to use ispell/Kspell
- work "online"


Greetings
-Rudiger


PS:
The Thai version of MS Word can do the linebreaks, but not properly. About 20%
of all linebreaks are wrong. Getting Thai support for KDE right could boost
the use of Linux and KDE here. It might even be possible to convience
officials to give Linux the preference to Windows in Thai schools, much like
ScholarNet in Mexico. 

--
 Software Advanced Solutions           Fon: +66 76 218 826 
 48 Villa 1 Yaowarat Soi 1             Fax: +66 76 214 041
 Phuket, Thailand 83000                rkoch@sas.co.th

 // Why use Windows when the door is open and free of charge?
 // Linux: The choice of a GNU generation

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