Collapsible Outlining in Foreign Languages

Every once in a while I think about collapsible outlining again.

Recently I got to wondering how it could be done for some of the foreign
languages with unusual line organizations, e.g., bidi. Some questions:

Do I understand the some bidi languages alternate a line of left to right text
with a line of right to left text?

What does a table of contents look like in that language(s)? (I ask that
because a ToC is a reasonable approximation of what a collapsed outline looks
like.)

Are there also languages that organize the text in vertical columns (instead
of horizontal rows)?

What does a table of contents look like in that language(s)? (I ask that
because a ToC is a reasonable approximation of what a collapsed outline looks
like.)

Hmm, and there are the ideo(?)graphic languages, I'm guessing that they can do
a ToC very similar in manner to ours (if their ideographs) are organized in
consecutive left to right (or right to left) lines.

Any insites appreciated. Maybe collapsible outlining is more an english /
european language thing only? (Or, at least, maybe it's not (easily)
applicable in some languages?

Randy Kramer
Received on Fri Oct 7 22:42:39 2005