[Tex/LaTex] How to solve subcaption package compatibility issue when using babel package with arabic option

arabicbabelincompatibilitysubcaption

I am trying to include some Arabic text but I am getting the following error:

! Package caption Error: The `subcaption' package does not work correctly
(caption)                in compatibility mode.

Here is a MWE which produces the error:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{arabtex}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[LFE,LAE]{fontenc}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\usepackage[arabic,english]{babel}

\begin{document}
 اللغة العربية
\end{document}

Any idea how to solve this?

Best Answer

I opened an issue at https://gitlab.com/axelsommerfeldt/caption/issues/5 but I'm having a hard time adapting the caption/subcaption package to the arabic babel package. Since I don't know the Arabic language I can only compare the outcome without and with (sub)caption package, and if they are not the same I can assume I've done something wrong.

But the outcome of the arabic babel package looks inconsistent to me:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[LFE,LAE]{fontenc}
\usepackage[arabic]{babel}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\caption{اللغة العربية}
\caption{اللغة العربية اللغة العربية اللغة العربية اللغة العربية اللغة العربية اللغة العربية}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Which ones of the two captions have the correct caption label formatting? Should it be on the left or on the right of the caption text? And how about the caption label itself? Should it read "Figure 1.0" (like in the long caption) or "1.0 Figure" (like in the short one)?

So I need assistance here from a person who is familiar with typography of Arabic language. If you want to help me and make an adaption of the caption/subcaption package to Arabic happen, please contact me. You'll find my e-mail address in the README of the caption package bundle: http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/caption/README

Thanks.

Addendum 2018-05-29: Is this correct a correct caption layout?

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Subcaption package: compatibility issue

The very recent version of the subcaption package will even issue an error:

! Package caption Error: The `subcaption' package does not work correctly
(caption)                in compatibility mode.

The only way to get around this is to specify the option compatibility=false to the caption package:

\documentclass{cifa}

\usepackage{subcaption}
\captionsetup{compatibility=false}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\parbox{4cm}{\subcaption{This is a subcaption}\label{sub}}
\caption{nothing}
\label{nothing}
\end{figure}

See figure \ref{nothing}: there is \ref{sub} inside...

\end{document}

PLEASE NOTE: This way the customization of the captions done by the cifa document class will be overwritten by the caption package in a brute-force manner. In best case the output of the captions will look different (and some caption-related stuff offered by the cifa document class will not work anymore), in worst case you'll get error messages and weird output. So please also take a look at the caption package documentation, section "6 Package Support". Since this is a perfect method to shoot oneself in the foot, an extra warning is always issued when using the compatibility=false option:

Package caption Warning: Forced redefinition of \caption since the
(caption)                unsupported(!) package option `compatibility=false'
(caption)                was given.
See the caption package documentation for explanation.

If you do not want this (or it does not work anyway) then the only solution left is not-using the subcaption package. Use the subfig package with option caption=false (which prevents loading of the caption package) instead:

\documentclass{cifa}

\usepackage[caption=false]{subfig}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\subfloat[This is a subcaption\label{sub}]{............}
\caption{nothing}
\label{nothing}
\end{figure}

See figure \ref{nothing}: there is \ref{sub} inside...

\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] Write a class with language dependent strings

The spanish option is not passed to the class, to begin with.

I don't think you really need to have class options for this, however. Here is zunbeltz.cls:

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}[1999/12/01]
\ProvidesPackage{zunbeltz}[2012/10/22 v0.1]

\providecommand*{\conclusionsname}{Final conclusions}

\AtBeginDocument{
  \@ifpackagewith{babel}{spanish}{%
    \addto\captionsspanish{\renewcommand*\conclusionsname{Conclusiones finales}}%
  }{}
  \@ifpackagewith{babel}{english}{%
    \addto\captionsenglish{\renewcommand*\conclusionsname{Final conclusions}}%
  }{}
}


\DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{report}}
\ProcessOptions\relax

\LoadClass{report}

and here the test document zunbeltz.tex:

\documentclass{zunbeltz}
\usepackage[english,spanish]{babel}
\begin{document}
\conclusionsname

\selectlanguage{english}
\conclusionsname
\end{document}

You'll get

Conclusiones finales
Final conclusions

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Subcaption package: compatibility issue

[Tex/LaTex] Write a class with language dependent strings

Related Question