Q: "Neb, this may seem like an obvious question, but I noticed that the images you used were facing left...Since the Re grouping is facing right, and hieroglyphs were usually written right-to-left, I'm guessing I could simply switch those around to be read right-to-left as well?"

A: You are correct Ria! You can switch them to face the direction that best fits your application, but traditionally if an image of an indivudual or a scene was shown with hieroglyphs, the signs would face the same direction the person, god, or individual would be facing.

Q: "I think the vulture is a bit more visually pleasing than the open-palm, but is there one version which would be the more "common" way Ria might be written?"

A: Since scholars believe that the spoken Ancient Egyptian language did not have vowels as we know in english, but instead they used gutteral consonent sounds. We use the closest equivelant to English vowels. For instance, an English 'a' would sound something like the 'aleph' or 'ayin' sound that is found in the Arabic language. It has a harder sound comes more from the throat. Here is an example of Cleopatra's name written in hieroglyphs. Since she was of foreign origin, her name was spelled phonetically. You can see the "a" at the end of her name was written with the "vulture" glyph. I agree it is more aesthetically pleasing than the "arm".

Q: "I'm a bit stuck deciding which version of "beloved of" to use. I'd love an opinion on that. I don't know if either way is more "common" or "ancient," also?"

A: The epithet "beloved of..." is used quite frequently, especially with Royalty. There are numerous examples of this written either way. For ease, I would say use the "canal" sign [N36], however, the aesthetics of the inscriptions were as important as the meaning. So it really is up to you which examples you choose to use here.

Q: "As for Isis, I'm grateful for your explanation about the most common way to write it, but I'm wondering also about the image I had at http://www.uponreflection.co.uk/heiro/gods/img/1isis.jpg of her name. I hate to ask, but do you know what those images mean and why they are written that way? Which version is more... how should I say... genuine? I notice the same Throne sign and Bread Cake, but why the image of a woman, and a serpent (I believe it is?)? I find that more visually pleasing than the egg, but I'd like to understand the way that one is written, and I also am not sure as to how that specific writing of Isis would be grouped vertically."

A: As I mentioned, there are many variations on the name "Isis (As.t)" but the important phonetic glyphs are the "throne" and the "bread cake". The other signs are silent and are known as determinitives. Often words(sets of glyphs) can take on a whole new meaning depending on which determinitives are used. For Isis, the 'egg' is often used to symbolize Isis's "motherly" aspects. The "squating woman" determinitive means that it is a woman, or Goddess the preceeding glyphs refer to. I am not 100% sure about the Ureaus used with this name (serpent) but it is usually a sign of protection. I have seen numerous examples where the 'squating woman' glyph is and is not used within Isis' name. Again if it does not neatly fit in a 'block' of glyphs with the intended orientation, then it is not used.
Below is an example of Isis's name written with only the 'egg' determintive (the precceding set of glyphs means "Mother of Horus"). This also shows the orietation of the signs in relation to one another:

If you are truly interested in learning more about hieroglyphs, I would really suggest walking through Sankhare's Medu Netjer (The Words of the Gods) thread. Sankh does an excellent job of explaining the fundamentals, history, and advanced 'rules' of reading and writing heiroglyphs. There are a number practice exercises to try as well.