Enhanced Text API

From OpenLaszlo

1 Text API Enhancements

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Text API Enhancements

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Justification for API Addition

Flash 10 supports a new Text Layout Framework with advanced typography features.

Bidirectional text: Includes vertical text and over 30 writing systems including Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Lao, the major writing systems of India, Tate-Chu-Yoko (horizontal within vertical text) and more.
Formatting: Text with inline graphics (images, SWFs, or any DisplayObject) and multiple columns of text with text flow and text selection through these columns. Additionally support for vertical text, Tate-Chu-Yoko (horizontal within vertical text) and justifier (Eastern European).
Print-quality typography for the web: Allows for kerning, ligatures, typographic case, digit case, digit width, and discretionary hyphens.
Mouse and Keyboard user gestures - standard keyboard and mouse functionality for copy, paste, undo and cut.
Text metrics: Includes measurements and offsets of fonts

In DHTML, HTML 5 and CSS3 also provide advanced typography features.

This page will discuss which features are desirable, which can be implemented in a cross platform way, and if any incompatible changes to the API will be needed.

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Flash Text Layout Engine / Framework

The new Flash text API is composed of a lower level Text Engine API (which is built into the player), and a higher level Text Layout Framework API (which is implemented as a Javascript library).