Re: RE: Character identities

[John Hudson]

Two very simple principles can resolve this issue:

1. Encode text using characters that accurately carry the semantic meaning of the text and which enable text standardised text processing functions such as sorting, spellchecking and searching.

2. Display the text by selecting a font that provides glyphs for those characters that correspond to your expectations, tastes and intentions.

There are tens of thousands of fonts in the world, and we wouldn't assume that all of them should be able to display every text in a manner that corresponds to everyone's expectations, tastes and intentions. Selecting an appropriate typeface is the first decision in any typography, and you cannot bypass this decision. You have to make a choice, and if the glyph that corresponds to a given character in the chosen font displeases you, then you have to make another choice: you have to reject the font and select another one, or you have to hack the font and change the glyph.

There are many fonts that can be used to display a multitude of texts, and do so in ways that correspond to the expectations, tastes and intentions of millions of writers and readers. There are some fonts that can only be used to represent certain texts, and in ways that correspond only to the expectations, tastes and intentions of a small number of people. There are entirely idiosyncratic fonts that display text in ways that only the individuals who made the fonts can read. The value of Unicode is that the character string behind the display is not tied to a particular display.

John Hudson

Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
Vancouver, BC [EMAIL PROTECTED]

It is necessary that by all means and cunning,
the cursed owners of books should be persuaded
to make them available to us, either by argument
or by force. - Michael Apostolis, 1467