Hi Otared,
On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:05:01 -0700, Otared Kavian <ota...@gmail.com> wrote:
If a humble opinion from an ordinary user may be issued, I agree with
Khaled that it would be extremely useful to have some basic default
settings for Arabic fonts, and even more generally for any particular
fonts used for other languages. This would not prevent those specialist
typesetters who want particular features to be turned on, to do so
through appropriate mechanisms.
sure, but it needs some thought. As I mentioned in my latest reply to
Khaled, we can start with Scheherazade as an initial benchmark and proceed
from there.
As a basic user I am frustrated when using mkiv, that most declaration
of features are completely cryptic, and not being a specialist of OTF or
other font specifications, I don't know which features are essential for
writing and typesetting an article in Persian or any language using
Arabic alphabet.
The difference -- I think -- is that xetex uses the system libraries.
Uniscribe is not configurable, so you're stuck with however uniscribe
interprets the ot features.
<snip>
%\font\Faarsi=Scheherazade*CrypticFeatures at 14pt % this does not work
Hmm, I wonder why...
The ideal situation would be:
• in a document, when one sets a language then a certain font, with
certain standard features is set by default;
sure, I suggest Scheherazade
• when an adapted font for that language is defined by the user, then
certain features are set by default;
that needs some research, for reasons Hans has explained.
• possibly a command like \setupArabic[state=start]
[...=...,features=...] (and the analogous settings for other languages
such as \setupHanzi[state=start][...=...,features=...], and alike),
could be imagined;
sure
Therefore, in the same spirit one should have some default allowing the
user to write
\setupArabic[state=start]
\setupHanzi[state=start]
\starttext
goedmorgen Hans! This is some maths formula: $a^2+b^2 = c^2$.
And this is some Arabic text written and typeset from right to left, in
the midst of some English text:
\startArabic
سلام خالد، درود بر ادریس
\stopArabic
I understand that this can be done by each user upon defining his own
environment and installing fonts, etc. But
for the non specialist it is not that easy to understand the intricacies.
For now the focus is getting OpenType and the mid-level interface solid,
then we can focus on the high-level interface as you have described. OTOH,
Getting Scheherazade (or some other mutually agreed-upon font) set up as
default with a high-level interface should not be that hard.
سلام
Idris
--
Professor Idris Samawi Hamid, Editor-in-Chief
International Journal of Shi`i Studies
Department of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
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