I think the ẞ glyph should look like the Duden ẞ, and not like Andreas Strötzner's Dresden form.
The Duden ẞ has only one angle, and a part of it looks similar to an S: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/2/2b/Eszett_Leipziger_Duden_1957.png The Dresden form has two angles, and a part of it looks similar to a Z: http://www.signographie.de/cms/upload/pdf/SIGNA9_SHARP_S_howto.pdf Here is why I think that the Duden ẞ is superior: 1. The Dresden ẞ tends to lean forward or topple over. That is because it has an unusual trait among capital letters: Its grey scale value at the top right corner is denser than at the top left corner. The Duden form, on the other hand, has equal grey scale values at the top left and top right corner. 2. The Duden ẞ is more similar to a small letter ß. Andreas Strötzner explicitly says that the distinctiveness from the small letter ß is an advantage of the Dresden ẞ. I think that is a fallacy. The point of the capital letter ẞ is not being distinct from the small letter ß, but only fitting in with the other capital letters (without toppling over). To the contrary: I think the capital letter ẞ benefits from being similar to the small letter ß because that makes it more readable. The capital letter ẞ is really only a variant of the small letter ß that fits in with other capital letters. 3. The Duden ẞ is more distinct from a B. You might say that this is because it does not waste distinctiveness by trying to look distinct from the small letter ß, so it can concentrate on looking distinct from B and fitting in with capital letters. 4. I personally think the Duden ẞ is the most beautiful ẞ I know. Here are some screenshots of three fonts at different weights and styles in very small sizes. I think they illustrate my point. The font DejaVu Sans has a Duden ẞ. It fits in with the capital letters, it is distinct from a B, and it does not topple over: http://fotogalerie.herr-der-ringe-film.de/data/7977/DejaVu_Sans_.png The font Linux Libertine has a Dresden ẞ that is almost identical to the one on the cover of Signa. In some instances, it topples over so much that it looks as if an italic letter were inserted: http://fotogalerie.herr-der-ringe-film.de/data/7977/Linux_Libertine_.png The font DejaVu Serif has a very angular Dresden ẞ: http://fotogalerie.herr-der-ringe-film.de/data/7977/DejaVu_Serif_.png -- grüess mach -- Expansion: 'ẞ' LATIN CAPTIAL LETTER SHARP S (U+1E9E) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/650498 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
