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Desktop publishing of documents in Arabic is a well-established practice. It allows to create top-standard documents, which requires knowledge about technical aspects, as well as an understanding of overall aesthetics and cultural nuances.
Desktop publishing is the process of designing and formatting a document to make it visually appealing and readable. It consists of five basic steps: creating an outline, preparing a rough draft, composing a final draft, making corrections, as well as designing graphics and formatting the text. To cut it simple, the main task of the desktop publisher lies in ensuring that all written elements and images of a translated file are correct and placed according to the original document. Yet, the scenario is not the same with Arabic documentation.
Arabic is a complex language with many different dialects, each having its own set of rules and conventions.
Arabic is a complex language with many different dialects, each having its own set of rules and conventions. It can be particularly effortful to make sure that your text is formatted correctly when you're working with Arabic content. Luckily, there are tools available that will help format your documents in an efficient way.
Desktop publishing of Arabic documents is a complex task, especially if you are not familiar with the language. Many problems can occur when you do it without knowing the language or cultural nuances.
First, Arabic language contains many characters that differ from those found in Western ones. This means that some features will not work correctly for Arabic documents. For example, Arabic text cannot be justified to the right or left margins without some changes to the way it is presented on-screen and printed.
Arabic text cannot be justified to the right or left margins without some changes to the way it is presented on-screen and printed.
Another potential issue is hidden in the fact that there are no standard fonts available online or even through computer's operating system. This makes it extremely difficult for desktop publishers and designers to draw up properly-looking documents: they have to go through the tedious process of downloading each font and then putting them together in one file before creating and designing anything at all.
However, the key challenge is that the Arabic language is written from right to left — most other languages are written from left to right, which can cause problems with page layout. When compiling documentation, it would be wrong to keep the text in the same place and direction as in the original, leaving illustrations untouched. This is why it is critical that text and images in Arabic documents are placed in reverse of how you would do it in English.
To optimize the work process, many desktop publishers prefer working in Adobe InDesign — a desktop publishing software that allows users to work on the text and layout of their projects. It provides a variety of tools to change the way Arabic text looks, like changing font, alignment, and even diacritics. The latter refer to signs placed above or below the text in Arabic to indicate the length of a consonant sound or short vowel sounds.
Without following the language norms, you could end up with a file that looks like nothing but letters and words.
Without following the language norms, your document will be incomprehensible to Arabic speakers who won’t be able to read it. In addition, you could end up with a file that looks like nothing but letters and words. A native Arabic speaker can ensure your content is written in accordance with the format and style that you require. They can also help you to arrange the text correctly, place pictures, edit numbered lists, display tables and change columns in them, as well as add pages numbering.
All these points together show that a significant amount of time should be devoted to planning a project, as this will save on its costs and ensure proper quality.
When producing documentation in Arabic, the layout should be consistent with the language style. This requires a translator who understands how Arabic is written, as well as a native speaker who can provide feedback on any errors or problematic points.
The desktop publisher must also be familiar with the rules of Arabic text formatting. It is thus essential to consider the different ways in which Arabic text can be rendered, including the use of diacritical marks and vowel signs, as well as the placement of punctuation.
