demo · v138

Mixed-script paragraph

The interesting case is text that mixes scripts in one paragraph. The cursive-spacing intervention is per-run, not per-block — Latin spacing still applies, Arabic and Devanagari runs are exempt automatically. Same single CSS declaration.

checking support…
0.20em
Latin: spacing applies Arabic / Devanagari: ignored in 138 CJK: spacing applies

mixed sentence — one paragraph, one letter-spacing rule

Hello مرحبا, namaste नमस्ते, hi こんにちは — one paragraph.

Arabic-only sample

السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ — the letters should stay joined regardless of letter-spacing.

Devanagari-only sample

नमस्ते दुनिया — conjuncts and akshara must not be torn apart by spacing.

Latin-only sample (control)

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

the change

p { letter-spacing: 0.2em; }
/* pre-138: the spacing was applied uniformly, including between the
   individual joined glyphs of Arabic and Devanagari — breaking the
   typographic rules of those scripts.
   138+: cursive scripts (Arabic, Devanagari, etc.) silently ignore the
   declaration on a per-run basis; Latin, CJK and other non-cursive runs
   in the same paragraph remain spaced as authored. */

This brings Chrome in line with Safari and Firefox — both already exempted cursive scripts from letter-spacing. The interop fix removes a long-standing source of accessibility complaints from Arabic and Hindi users.

see also