Arabic, Hebrew and East Asian text in Vectornation
How Vectornation by Zaweba handles Arabic and Hebrew with bidi and kashida, and East Asian text with kinsoku, half-width punctuation, tate-chu-yoko and ruby.
Many design apps treat languages beyond English as an afterthought, and it shows when a menu needs an Arabic column or a label needs Japanese text. Vectornation by Zaweba handles right-to-left scripts and East Asian typesetting rules as part of its text engine, so text in these languages comes out the way a native reader expects.
Arabic and Hebrew
Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left, but they often include numbers and words in other scripts that run left to right. Getting the order right is the job of the bidi algorithm, the standard rules for mixing directions in one line. Vectornation uses it, so a Hebrew sentence with a product code in Latin letters keeps everything in the right order.
Arabic letters change shape depending on their position in a word and join to their neighbours. Vectornation joins Arabic letters properly, so words look as they should rather than as a row of separate letters.
Paragraphs can be set right-to-left, which changes alignment and the start of each line to match the reading direction.
Kashida and digit shapes
Justified Arabic text is traditionally spread by lengthening the connecting strokes between letters, called kashida, rather than only widening word spaces. Vectornation supports kashida justification, which gives justified Arabic text a more natural and even look.
Digit shapes can also be chosen, so numbers in Arabic text can use the forms suited to the reader.
East Asian line breaking
Chinese, Japanese and Korean text has its own line breaking rules. Kinsoku rules stop certain characters, such as closing brackets and some punctuation, from starting a line, and others from ending one. Vectornation applies kinsoku line breaks, so text wraps the way readers of those languages expect.
Half-width punctuation lets some punctuation marks take less space, which keeps lines evenly set.
Tate-chu-yoko and ruby
In vertical Japanese text, short runs of horizontal characters, such as a two digit number, are often set across the column rather than stacked one above the other. This is tate-chu-yoko, and Vectornation supports it.
Ruby is small text set alongside main characters to show their reading, often used for less common characters or for younger readers. Vectornation can set ruby, which is useful for educational material, signs and packaging.
Upright text tools in Vectornation, including upright shape and path text, give vertical layouts a proper home.
Why it matters for design work
Even a mostly English piece of work may need another language. A restaurant menu with an Arabic section, packaging sold in several countries, a sign with a Japanese translation or a poster for a community event all need text that is set correctly. When the engine gets it wrong, the result looks wrong to the people the text is meant for, and that reflects on the whole design.
Practical tips
Use a font that properly supports the script you are setting. The best layout rules cannot help if the font lacks the characters or the joining forms. Check your text with a native reader when you can, especially for anything printed in quantity. And keep text live rather than converting it to outlines until it has been checked, so corrections are easy.
With these features built in, Vectornation can handle multilingual work in the same file as the rest of the design, without a separate tool for each language.
