Section on Numbers

[behnam]

To populate 3.8 Arabic numbering

Draft is here: https://github.com/w3c/alreq/wiki/Arabic-numerals-(Draft)

Other issues related: https://github.com/w3c/alreq/issues/59 https://github.com/w3c/alreq/issues/62 https://github.com/w3c/alreq/issues/85

[shervinafshar]

Najib to merge the content he drafted on the wiki and do a PR. We'll be using this issue for review purposes.

[behnam]

Review of https://w3c.github.io/alreq/#h_numbers

Feedback

• Let's not call the variants Arabic vs. Persian. (Shervin)

• We may want to stay away from francophone and anglophone terms. (Shervin)

• Instead of Middle East / Western styles, I think we better use the terms more common in this topic: Eastern style and Western style.

• We may want to expand on Thousand Separator and Decimal Separator. (Shervin)

• Root of Bidi_Class differences between western and easter digits.

• Maybe update the example for Bidi_Class difference to include Arabic-script text, instead of English.

• Would number ranges (like %12-%15) be always LTR, or there are cases that 12 can go on the right-hand-side of 15?

[ntounsi]

* Maybe update the example for Bidi_Class difference to include Arabic-script text, instead of English.

A table like this could be more suggestive

* Would number ranges (like %12-%15) be always LTR, or there are cases that 12 can go on the right-hand-side of 15?

In 12-15, - is European Separator changed to European Number (rule W4, http://unicode.org/reports/tr9/#W4). The whole string is a "number" In ‏12٪-15٪ , - comes after ٪ European Terminator, and changed to Neutral (Rule W6). 12 comes at the right of 15 in RTL context.

BTW (and WRT previous item), this is another example where Arabic-indic digits differs from Eastern Arabic-Indic digits.

[khaledhosny]

I’d expect the number ranges to always be RTL. I don’t think fractions using solidus are common or even used in Egypt, for me ١/٢ reads immediately as “2 January” not as a fraction. I have seen vulgar fractions, on the other hand, in some old school books and they were LTR.

[ntounsi]

Agree. Number ranges are to be read RTL.

[TitusNemeth]

At the risk of reviving an old discussion, here's a question: in the current draft is a statement about the degree sign to be placed on the right of the number without any qualification. I wondered if this is correct, as I have seen the opposite custom, placing the degree sign to the left (in logical reading order). Incidentally Najib's table above seems to suggest that both can happen.

[shervinafshar]

Thanks for the reminder on this overlooked nuance. We need to add some text to align (at least) with CLDR on this:

• ar: https://st.unicode.org/cldr-apps/v#/ar/Weather/33c368f9174f3ad

• fa: https://st.unicode.org/cldr-apps/v#/fa/Weather/2bb26ab5dcc064f6