Interlinear glossing

[rpcameron]

I realized my last purchase for Mellel was in Nov 21, just outside of the update window for Mellel 6. However, whether I consider to continue using Mellel is whether it can finally meet my needs after decades of missing features.

Simply: can Mellel finally do interlinear glossing, specifically for more than 2 glosses? And can paragraphs in separate columns be linked to one another?

(Glossing has been a feature request I have made since Mellel was basically a glorified Nisus Writer replacement, and there has never been any movement on this front. I would have figured with all of the courting of academic writers there would have been some interest, but I suppose it is finally time to realize that Mellel cannot meet my needs.)

[Et cetera]

Hi, I, too, would love to have interlinear capabilities.

In the meantime, you might consider the InDesign replacement called VIVA Designer (can be used free or with a one-off license). https://viva.systems/. What you want is "Ruby text", aka "Furgana".

There is a steep learning curve to VIVA, and I find the English UI to be somewhat difficult to understand sometimes, but support is good, and the Ruby text capability is great.

I learned from someone knowledgeable that InDesign also allows Ruby text, but apparently it's hidden enough that (IIRC) someone has to use scripts to access it.

Hope that helps!

[rpcameron]

What you want is "Ruby text", aka "Furgana".

I am well aware of furigana/ruby, but that is something different.

What I need is support for multiple stacked glosses (5), with the main flow going RTL, but some glosses going LTR, and proper wrapping within a column (and kept in sync with a second column of related text).

The TeX packages I have found only seem to support 3 lines of text. Presently I am using a JavaScript to construct my glosses, insert that into an XML document, which is then processed by Prince.

I'll look at Viva, but most layout/DTP programs have issues with rendering complex scripts and BiDi streams, and I have not found a single one that can handle my specific needs.

[Et cetera]

Yes, indeed, your needs exceed mine in this area. I hope you find something better than you have so far.

It does seem that Mellel would be the best one to implement this, but probably the limited number of folks needing it make it financially less than compelling.