Does BiDi support need to extend to visualizations?

Question

I'm in the process of writing a visualization library for a product I work on and I've been thinking about i18n and BiDi support. I haven't been able to find a good answer anywhere, and my Project Manager doesn't really know the answer either.

My question is this: how far should I take bi-directionality with visualizations? Should the entire visual be mirrored, or only the labels on the key/axes? What is expected in the Right-to-Left reading world?

Note

I'm specifically thinking of Gauges and Bar Charts right now... if that helps the discourse.

Answer 1

The answer, as usual, is it depends. This is a very complex question for which there is no easy answer.

For starters, I would suggest reading Michael Kaplan's blog Sorting It All Out.

http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2010/02/02/9956547.aspx

I am no expert, but my understanding is that, in general, people who are reading RTL expect things to be mirrored more often than not.

Answer 2

For Hebrew:

1. You should not flip bar and line charts. Keep the x axis values growing from left to right. You can and should localize the labels.

2. Gauges should also usually remain as is, keeping their "clockwise" feel, with localized labels.

And of course there are always exceptions so always consult with your client or end users.