Layout Adaptation

Right to Left Languages & Exotic Scripts

If a document is being localized in Middle Eastern and Asian languages an adaptation of the original layout is crucial. Right-to-left text direction and Asian character sets require major changes in an existing document's layout.

There are four steps to adapting a layout for right-to-left languages:

1.    Layout of each page must be mirrored completely
2.    Flipping of design elements, tables and bullets
3.    Reversion of the pagination because right-to-left-language documents
      are opened left-to-right and read "from last to first page"
4.    Reversed pagination interrelates with the crop and bleed marks of a
       ready-to-print final document

To give a localized document the same appearance and layout quality as its original there is some careful work required. The most common right-to-left languages are: Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu.

To adapt a layout to Asian languages attention has to be paid to other requirements. Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts can be oriented in either direction, as they consist mainly of disconnected syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space, which may be a challenge in an existing layout.

Even very common languages call for layout adaptation after translation due to changing text volumes. So an English source text can be up to 35% shorter than the translated text in an expanding target language such as Spanish or German. Thus the layout has to be changed to accommodate the larger volumes of the text boxes, graphic descriptions or body texts.
Different font sizes, letter styles or sizes can affect the layout in a similar way, as text volume again can expand and may require a layout update.

Last but not least there are restrictions in some software tools for handling certain script directions, character sets and fonts. Our integrated engineering is a great help when format changes or conversions are required, if the source document's format does not conform with the requirements of the target language.

•    Document Creation
•    Document Care
•    Foreign Language DTP
•    Integrated Engineering
•    Website Design
•    Illustration Creation and Graphic Design