[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #40194: Automatic text direction detection for input fields in the admin area

[WordPress Trac]

#40194: Automatic text direction detection for input fields in the admin area
-------------------------------------------+-----------------------------
 Reporter:  johnbillion                    |      Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                    |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                         |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  I18N                           |    Version:
 Severity:  normal                         |   Keywords:  needs-patch
  Focuses:  accessibility, administration  |
-------------------------------------------+-----------------------------
 When the WordPress admin area is displayed in a left-to-right language
 (such as English), any text in a right-to-left language (such as Arabic)
 will not be displayed correctly in input fields due to the incorrect text
 direction, and vice versa for left-to-right text displayed in right-to-
 left inputs.

 This can be a significant problem not only for multilingual websites, but
 also for sites where users are using the admin area in a language with a
 text direction opposite to the content they're editing, or indeed any site
 which has published any content in a language that uses the opposite text
 direction.

 After some discussion at WordCamp London with @s1m0nd, @swissspidy, and
 @shadyvb, it was decided that input fields across the whole of the
 WordPress admin area should detect the direction of the text contained
 within them and switch the text direction of the input field on the client
 side automatically.

 An example of this in action is on google.com, where the main search input
 field automatically switches direction as soon as you input the first
 character. This is the desired behaviour. @shadyvb has some experience
 implementing this already. The text direction of a character is detectable
 based on the right-to-left unicode range(s).

 The same problem also extends to output of user-defined content that
 doesn't appear in an input field, for example category names in the
 Categories meta box, user display names, and comments on the Comments
 screen, but this may be more complicated to implement so is best
 approached in a follow-up ticket.

 Adding the `accessibility` keyword as there may be some Aria live
 requirements around switching an input's text direction on the fly.

 QUnit tests for the functionality would be desirable.

--
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40194>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform