Is it possible to set direction:auto in all note types by default?
For context I’m a multilingual user and I even write in multiple languages in cards, setting the direction in each and every note type would take too much time and being LTR by default is pretty discouraging for new users in my opinion (especially ones who are unfamiliar with HTML)
I don’t know if this will cause a problem with the app and I didn’t find anyone suggesting this feature before.
So, from a quick search it seems like the reason auto isn’t the initial value of this property has to do with backward compatibility. We don’t have to worry about that.
But there might be issues if you have mixed content, say if the element starts with Roman letters and then has some Perso-Arabic letters. So, if we force this change on people it’ll cause some breakages, the question is how much?
(The heuristic seems very crude, it looks at the first 100 or so characters and finds the first “strong” directional character.)
Fields can be marked as RTL in the Fields dialog. If you’re mixing multiple languages in a field, I was under the impression explicit direction markers where necessary are the way to go, but the RTL-speaking regulars/devs are welcome to chime in. I don’t think we could make such a change to the defaults if they would affect existing users, as it’s likely to break a lot.
What if you set new accounts to auto by default
I suspect most existing users have either fixed the issue, adapted to it, or possibly stopped using the app altogether. But non-technical users still face frustration because they don’t even realize this is something they can fix.
I’d rather it stay as is. Most of us have invested time in ensuring that texts in both directions appear as they should.
I usually define some classes and add the appropriate CSS instructions for those classes. Everything just happens correctly, then, as the underlying engine supports HTML.
@dae offered one solution.
Another is just to set the direction as standard on the Note Types, which you use. I’d always rename the Note Types so that there will not be a clash, if you share those decks, or anyone were to borrow one of them. How many Note Types do you have? It shouldn’t take too long to go through them all and modify them as you wish.
There’s no way to tell the difference between a fresh install / profile – where an existing user is going to import/sync their existing decks – and a brand new user starting from scratch.