[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #24977: Workflow change: automate RTL css generation

[WordPress Trac]

#24977: Workflow change: automate RTL css generation
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 Reporter:  yoavf        |      Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:  3.7
Component:  General      |    Version:
 Severity:  normal       |   Keywords:
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 '''TL;DR:'''

 WordPress has great support for languages written from right-to-left, but
 that support require a lot of manual work with each release and update. We
 can change that by automating the creation of RTL css file using CSSJanus
 in the build process.

 '''Current Status / Issues:'''

 - WP core css files have manually created *-rtl.css files alongside them
 - RTL css files only override LTR css, and so must be loaded in addition
 to the LTR css.
 - With every CSS change across WP multiple css files, matching RTL css
 change must be committed as well.
 - RTL css files are often out of sync.
 - There's not enough awareness of RTL support for plugins and themes.


 '''Proposed Solution:'''
 - No RTL css files in the core repository.
 - RTL css files will be created during the build process.
 - RTL css files will fully replace LTR css files and will be loaded
 instead of LTR files when {{{is_rtl()}}}


 This process is already active on WordPress.com for over a year now:
 - RTL css files on WordPress.com (excluding core's and themes') are auto
 generated on commit.
 - If {{{is_rtl()}}} a filter to {{{style_loader_src}}} looks to see if an
 rtl file exists (based on a predefined naming convention), and will load
 it instead of the LTR file.

 '''What else:'''
  - Some of core's css will need to be audited to make sure it can
 automatically be RTLized. There are a bunch of workarounds that can be
 used with cssjanus in cases where automatic rtl css is problematic( i.e.
 @no-flip rules, and .rtl class selector)
  - There's a CSSJanus nodejs module, but no grunt plugin yet afaik
  - While this process can be relatively easily applied to core, how can we
 extend it to themes and plugins? (I have a few ideas, but let's get the
 ball rolling first)

 With WordPress moving over to a grunt based build, there's no better time
 to do this. '''Let's do it!

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/24977>
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