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These tests explore how browser chrome handles bidirectional text in response to code in HTML and XHTML.
In what follows, 'HTML' means HTML4.01, HTML5, or XHTML 1.0 served as text/html. XML means XHTML 1.0, XHTML5, or XHTML 1.1 served as application/xhtml+xml.
See the results below for user agents tested. This section summarizes the results of those tests.
All tests reported so far have been conducted in an English environment (operating system and browser version).
All browsers ordered characters within directional runs according to the bidirectional algorithm in all locations.
No browsers, however, applied a RTL base direction to the displayed text in any location, with the exception of Internet Explorer, and then only in two tests. IE correctly ordered directional runs only when dir was set to rtl in the html tag, and only for alert and confirm dialog boxes (not prompt dialogs). Those cases were also the ones where IE reversed the display geometry for a the dialog box, ie. icons and buttons went from right-to-left too. None of the other browsers did this, except that Chrome right-aligned the text (but didn't change the position of other objects on the dialog box).
Both IE and Opera changed the position of the scroll bar when rtl was set on the html or the body tag. No other browser did this.
IE and Firefox correctly ordered bidirectional text in attribute values when shown in tooltips. Opera, Safari and Chrome did not.
No browser applied the correct base direction to properly display bidirectional text in the window title.
These are results for the latest versions of each user agent tested. A green background (yes) means that the assertion associated with the test held true; red (no) means that it did not; orange (partially) means that it was only partially true. To view the assertion, mouse over the test title (left-most column).
Results are given for five types of document format: H4 (HTML 4.01), H5 (HTML5), XH (XHTML 1.0 served as text/html), X (XHTML 1.0 served as XML), X5 (XHTML5), X11 (XHTML 1.1, served as XML), but since all result were the same for the browsers tested, a single cell is used to represent all four test instances. Internet Explorer doesn't handle pages served as XML, so those tests are ignored in these results.
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| html dir, vertical scrollbar alignment | no | no | yes | no | yes | yes |
| body dir, vertical scrollbar alignment | no | no | yes | no | yes | yes |
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| html dir (a) | no | no | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| body dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| local dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Unicode control characters | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Notes:
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| html dir (a) | no | no | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| body dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| local dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Unicode control characters | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Notes:
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| html dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| (d) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (e) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| body dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| (d) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (e) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| local dir (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | partial1 |
| (b) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (c) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| (d) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (e) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Unicode control characters (a) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | no |
Notes:
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| html dir, tooltip text starts with LTR (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| html dir, tooltip text starts with RTL (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| body dir, tooltip text starts with LTR (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| body dir, tooltip text starts with RTL (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| local dir, tooltip text starts with LTR (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| local dir, tooltip text starts with RTL (a) | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Unicode control characters | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| UA | IE | IE | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 8 | 7 | 3.5.1 | 9.64 | 4.0.1 | 2.0.172.37 |
| OS | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP | XP |
| date | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 | 20090717 |
| locale | English | English | English | English | English | English |
| title text starts with LTR (a) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| title text starts with RTL (a) | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| (b) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Unicode control characters | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes1 |
Notes:
Tell us what you think (English).
Content first published 2009-07-22. Last substantive update 2009-07-22 13:00 GMT. This version 2009-07-22 13:00 GMT
For the history of document changes, search for results-bidi-chrome in the i18n blog.
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