SetupDesignGuide.pdf - Firmware Encoding Index

Setup Design Guide
DRAFT
9.4.1 Bi-directional Input (Reserved for future implementation)
Many languages have left-to-right orientation, however some use right-to-left orientation for keyboard
input. This requires the ability to handle both types of input. There are several issues to deal with
when it comes to bi-directional input.
There are some issues when it comes to the ability to type things in one orientation and in the middle of
a set of words change directionality. This is common when typing in a right-to-left oriented language
such as Hebrew and a word only makes sense to be typed in a non-right-to-left language.
For instance, to type, “I love Intel too” one might type in Hebrew, גמ כן"‏ Intel אחוב ‏."אני To provide the
ability to do switch orientation like this one needs to focus on some of the elements of bi-directional
typing.
9.4.1.1 Bi-directional segments
Bi-directional text may consist of a main part that has one orientation (e.g. Hebrew text written from
right-to-left), and portions that have opposite orientation (e.g. English text written left-to-right). The
portion of text with different orientation is called a segment. Bi-directional text may have a body of
right-to-left text with embedded left-to-right segments.
There are two methods which support global orientation switching. One method requires manual
intervention to switch between right-to-left and left-to-right, and the other automatically handles rightto-left
orientation for characters that require them (e.g. Hebrew, Arabic, etc) and switch modes
automatically for characters that require left-to-right handling (e.g. Arabic Numbers, English letters,
etc.)
For the EFI implementation, we will only support a manual method of orientation switching.
9.4.1.2 Orientation Hot Keys
For the EFI implementation, a hot key would be created to enable switching of keyboard orientation.
When switching orientation this is called going into “Push” mode.
The switching of orientation modes affects input direction. However we need to give some thought to
the saving of text information in such a way as to allow for the appropriate readability when loaded in
at a later time. One proposal might be that when typing from right to left, the data being saved is
orientation agnostic. Meaning, that if I typed one through 4 and it displayed “4321” when that
information is saved or redirected to a file it is stored as it is typed, not as it was displayed.
The ability to switch orientations should be an easy task that allows for the minimum of effort. A
simple two-key combination of two untranslatable keys would be the appropriate methodology. The
suggested hot key combination would be holding down the EfiKeyRCtrl and the EfiKeyRShift
to enable the orientation toggle.
9.4.1.2.1 Push Mode
When the orientation hot key is pressed the user enters push mode. Push mode is a keyboard input
mode in which characters are “pushed” in the direction opposite to the base direction of the segment.
The cursor does not move. When the orientation hot key is pressed again, the user enters into the
previous bi-directional mode.
אחוב“‏ was typed the user would have typed ‏”אני אחוב Intel גמ כן“‏ An example of this is when the phrase
then they would have pressed the orientation hot key to enable push mode. This would have ‏”אני
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