1647240 - not user-friendly GUI in RTL languages

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: Internationalization: Localization, enhancement)

Description

[vbehshad]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/68.0

Steps to reproduce:

use the translated version of Firefox(RTL languages and in my case Persian)

Actual results:

in translated version of Firefox(RTL languages and in my case Persian), the GUI is right to left which means every button is in the wrong place! (ex: OK at the left and Cancel at the right right).
this is a rookie mistake because GUI positions have nothing to do with language. that is the major reason that people don't use the translated version.
i know some people will say that this is not a bug, in that case Switch Left and Right Mouse/touchpad Button Functions and try using it for a week.

Expected results:

translated version should have same GUI with translated words

Comment 1

[vbehshad]

Attachment: S.jpg

Comment 2

[Itiel]

I don't understand your reasoning for this.
Every proper RTL UI should be (for the most part) mirrored, see Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome etc. Even a localized RTL windows is mirrored. See also:
https://material.io/design/usability/bidirectionality.html#mirroring-layout
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/09/building-rtl-aware-web-apps-and-websites-part-1/
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/10/building-rtl-aware-web-apps-websites-part-2/

If the UI being flipped is bothering you, you can set intl.uidirection to 0 in about:config, and you'll get the same UI as in LTR.

Comment 3

[vbehshad]

thank you for your response
yes there are other major applications doing the same thing and people simply don't report the problem because those who need translated GUIs can't report in English.
the reasoning is obvious. GUI should be intuitive, the buttons should be on standard locations and i know its awkward to create a LTR GUI with RTL text but its the only way. when we write math(LTR) in a Persian text(RTL) we don't write math from right to left. i'm reporting this from Iran its not my personal opinion. its a pain in the neck for all users to use a mirrored GUI this is becoming a standard because its not reported.

thank you for this: "intl.uidirection" i will tell users how to fix that problem, but the standard mirroring is wrong, it should be optional

Comment 4

[Itiel]

I've used various apps having Hebrew support but without RTL, and it always felt weird. I realize this may be because I'm used to it, but while I do understand where you're coming from (some of my collegues also can't stand RTL UI, but that's because they're used to operate as LTR since they are using the English LTR version of the OS ), I genuinely believe a flipped UI is the way to go for RTL.

(In reply to vbehshad from comment #3)

when we write math(LTR) in a Persian text(RTL) we don't write math from right to left.

Indeed- math equations, numbers, video/audio players, size dimentions etc. should always be LTR, even in RTL. And if somewhere in FIrefox you see this is not respected- well this is a bug and I'd like you to report bugs for these occurences and CC me if you can, but forcing everything everywhere to LTR is missing the point of RTL, I think.

thank you for this: "intl.uidirection" i will tell users how to fix that problem, but the standard mirroring is wrong, it should be optional

You're welcome.
I'd argue that it's the other way around- disabling the mirroring should be optional (as it is right now), otherwise you'd have to change Web standards as well (why have a dir="rtl" on HTML documents at all? etc. Also open e.g. Wikipedia in any RTL language and the side panel would be on the right. According to what you're saying, this should be on the left also for RTL...).

Comment 5

[pepe]

wow! this is work . Firefox is in Persian and LTR. now address bar and tabs is in right place.
i have this problem with other software and can not fix it there.
thanks

Comment 6

[mehrankazemi95]

As far as I concern for Iranian users it is not convenient to use right to left interface
Users who can not understand English will not be able to run the related codes without guidelines.

Comment 7

[Clara Guerrero ( Need Info Brindusa Tot Please)]

Hi,

As per comment 5, thanks for confirming this issue has been solved on your end.

Let me know if I can mark this ticket as resolved. (you can always reopen this bug if you have troubles again)

Regards, Clara

Comment 8

[vbehshad]

(In reply to Clara Guerrero from comment #7)

Hi,

As per comment 5, thanks for confirming this issue has been solved on your end.

Let me know if I can mark this ticket as resolved. (you can always reopen this bug if you have troubles again)

Regards, Clara

thank you for the reply.
i reported this bug for people who can't report bugs(and can't change intl.uidirection ). the GUI should have some easy (translated) way for changing ui-direction. so the bug isn't solved.

Comment 9

[Clara Guerrero ( Need Info Brindusa Tot Please)]

I will move this over to a component so developers can take a look over it.
Thanks for the report.

Best regards, Clara.

Comment 10

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Closing this as INVALID, since the current approach has always been considered effective.