Arabic italics cannot be displayed using Arial font

[ayumi5FF4]

Helle all,

I am creating an Arabic manual using FrameMaker2020.
I'm using Arial font, but I can't display italics.
I tried to make it italic, but the characters are garbled.
Is it impossible to display Arabic in italics using Arial font in FrameMaker?
I was able to display italics using the Arial font in InDesign, but is this not possible in FrameMaker?

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

I have only a single document with Arabic and Arial, and it does not have any italic text.

When I applied Italic to some Arabic characters, they changed to questionmarks.

When I applied Italic to Western characters in this document, then they were icalicized correctly.

Here is a long thread about Arabic and Italics. It seems that others had your issue before.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker-discussions/problem-italic-arabic-text-when-publish-from-f...

Can you check, if this is helpful?

If this is a general bug, then report it in the Adobe Tracker with a reference to this thread:

https://tracker.adobe.com

Best regards

Winfried

[ayumi5FF4]

Thank you for your advice.

Actually, I already checked the long thread about Arabic and italics that you attached.

According to this thread, the topic of italics has changed to color, and I couldn't find a solution, so I posted it.

Maybe it's a FrameMaker bug.

As mentioned in this thread, I will also try not to use Arabic italics.

Anyway, thank you for your reply.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

As that thread states - you need to choose a font that supports italics in Arabic - Arial doesn't appear to do that.

[Bob_Niland]

Adobe Arabic font works (although it slants backward for italic, which may not be desired).

What's a bit odd about the Arial situation is that FM offers Angle[Italic] when the font doesn't populate italic. Several other fonts {mis}behave similarly, which makes me suspect that this is an issue with how FM interprets font file data structures, rather than an issue with the fonts themselves.

More typically, FM will offer Angle[Obliqued] when a font has no italic. It does this for Noto Naskh & Sans Arabic, for example. Depending on FM version, you may need to have a Postscript or Ps-like printer (e.g. PDF) configured to get Obliqued, and the style may not be preserved into all workflows (e.g. HTML, eBook).

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

This might or might not shed light on your issue, but sans serif fonts (by definition) do not have an italic version, which are specifically designed characters. They generally have an Oblique version. Bob mentioned an obliqued version, but that sounds like an attempt by FrameMaker to create a slanted/oblique version from the regular font characters.

You'll be happiest with a font that has the actual characters intentionally designed in italic (or any other special version) as that will have better kerning (spacing) and likely have more consistent results than you'll find with "made up" stylized versions of fonts.

[Bob_Niland]

Matt: Bob mentioned an obliqued version…

This seems to be a legacy feature in FM. There is (was?) also a Bolded option, sometime seen in addition to Bold. This might have been a font transform operation available in Postscript commands, adopted by FM.

In earlier versions it only worked if the Print Setup was for a Ps-like driver. But I see in FM2020 that it remains enabled even when my usual default PCL printer is configured.

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

From a typographic perspective, it's always been unwise to use other than specific defined fonts, installed on your system. Bold(ed), Italic(ized) and others will cause heartache and headache.

[frameexpert]

And occasionally, stomachache.

[StudioSm]

... but does arabic use italics? I have done a lot of arabic typesetting but I can't remember to ever have used italics. I wouldn't think it is an authentic part of arabic typesetting. Doesn't mean, though, that it is not done.

[ayumi5FF4 · Accepted solution]

Thank you all

Based on your advice, we have decided not to use Arabic italics.

Thank you very much for your help.