RTL (Right-to-Left) text direction for some Asian languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian etc.

[merrime-n]

##Issue
We need to use Persian interface and Persian (Farsi) is a RTL language. This feature is not supported in Nextcloud and the interface strings are translated into Persian but its Left-to-Right.
We have also checked Arabic and it was also LTR.

##What we suggest:
We strongly suggest that Nextcloud developers include the text direction feature.

[Spartachetto]

There should be some work already done. I've seen for example #11716

[tflidd]

Perhaps a stupid question, you probably would change the alignment, but would you as well "mirror" the whole design?

[Spartachetto]

@jancborchardt Sorry to disturb you, but:

• this issue maybe is already solved
• this is a front end issue

[merrime-n]

the issue is not solved yet.
we have tried multiple options to make it right to left; none of which worked.
We modified core css files using RTLCSS (a tool written in javascript to make a left-to-right interface right-to-left.
We searched for any css patch to include in Custom CSS (a theming app in nextcloud) but we didn't find anything.
We need nextcloud developers to help us out.
This cannot be done without your help.

[mokazemi]

There are some problems for Right-to-Left languages.

• Text boxes should adopt text (or paragraph) direction automatically, based on the writing language.
• The total interface should be mirrored. (Since Some issues are encountered when the interface is LTR but text isn't.)

[jancborchardt]

cc @skjnldsv @marcoambrosini @PVince81 @AndyScherzinger since this is quite an overarching front-end issue.

[AndyScherzinger]

Not sure when this could be picked up, since we want to push more for the rewrite to vue and also work on accessibility which both couldn't be worked on given the priorities of version 24. So I think that this should be implemented first before improving RTL support.

[mokazemi]

Isn't there anything about RTL layout support for Version 25?
Since this makes Nextcloud not being much usable for these languages. (Only strings translations is not enought)

[AndyScherzinger]

Isn't there anything about RTL layout support for Version 25?

Not that I know of, maybe @PVince81 is aware of something, but my guess it no.

[bandarrex]

it is a front-end issue . the direction must rely on the used language to view the text and tables and containers properly.
open developer mode and addup the page code after html:
dir="rtl"
and see part of the experience

[ahangarha]

I have tried manually, and I think the implementation of this feature should be straight forward. If there is no objection against using logical properties in CSS (I mean using text-align: start|end instead of left|right, or padding-inline-start|end instead of padding-left|right and other similar cases, I should be able to work on this feature.

Perhaps the only issue is with the support for inset-inline-start|end for left|right properties in absolute positioned elements.

If there be no objection, this approach helps us to avoid creating rtl styles (which brings more headache for maintenance). Then we need to publish some guidelines for developing apps to respect the same styling conventions to follow the direction of the page.

Green light?

[AndyScherzinger]

#31420 (comment) What do you think @skjnldsv @nickvergessen @juliushaertl @artonge @ChristophWurst - for some front-enders feedback. In general having RTL supported would be awesome, I just lack the technical knowledge if the approach works or where one would expect challenges and side-effects for app-developers

[ahangarha]

The good thing is that my native language is Persian (so I know what I am fixing). I also have several contributions to different projects, fixing their bidirectional text support.

I expect the changes to be very limited, so it shouldn't add more complexities to the project.

I document things so they can become a guideline for other developers.

We only need a reliable way to verify the quality of the changes. If we have automated tests, it would be great. In any case, we will make it work. I have some cool plans for the next 3 months. Wish me for making it realized.