L2/13-237

Date:   Dec 16, 2013
Source: Kirill Larionov
Subject: Precomposed punctuation proposal


Please, consider my proposal.

Sorry for this simple text message, not an appropriately formed proposal
for new characters. I do what I can, as a user of characters.
(a formal list of proposed characters is the last section of the
message)

===================================================

PREREQUISITES.
There are
1. precomposed characters in the Unicode:
	a) U+2026 HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS (…),
	b) U+2048 QUESTION EXCLAMATION MARK (⁈),
	c) U+2049 EXCLAMATION QUESTION MARK (⁉);
2. Russian punctuation marks combining ellipsis with
exclamation/question marks or comma (namely: ,..  !..  ?..  !?.  ?!. ).

Point #1 implies the necessity to supply code points for punctuation
marks mentioned  in point #2 — to make things complete.

PRACTICAL ASPECT.
The problem is best (=worst) seen when looking at the combination
‘question mark + ellipsis’ [or — other example — ‘question exclamation
mark + ellipsis’] if it is represented as sequence of three glyphs, i.e.
question mark + full stop + full stop ( ?.. ) [question mark +
exclamation mark + full stop ( ?!. )], and the font is proportional.
Spaces between adjacent dots are not uniform and this
_essentially_single_ mark does not seem looking so (really in texts it
can look rather like a typo, not an intended punctuation).
I am not sure that elaborating kerning stuff in fonts is the
only/best/appropriate way to solve this ‘appearancing’ problem.
Precomposed characters should help.


The LIST of PROPOSED CHARACTERS with their decompositions.
1. COMMA WITH ELLIPSIS (,..): <compat>  002C 002E 002E
2. EXCLAMATION MARK WITH ELLIPSIS (!..): <compat>  0021 002E 002E
3. QUESTION MARK WITH ELLIPSIS (?..): <compat>  003F 002E 002E
4. EXCLAMATION QUESTION MARK WITH ELLIPSIS (!?.): <compat>  0021 003F
002E
5. QUESTION EXCLAMATION MARK WITH ELLIPSIS (?!.): <compat>  003F 0021
002E

Possible Unicode properties for these characters (truly — I know little
about them):
Script = Common
General Category = Po
Canonical Combining Class = 0
Bidi Class = ON
Numeric Type = 
Bidi Mirrored = No
Joining Type = U
Joining Group = No Joining Group
Uppercase Mapping = 
Lowercase Mapping = 
Titlecase Mapping = 
Line Break = NS
Binary Properties:
	Terminal Punctuation
	Grapheme Base
	Sentence Terminal
	Pattern Syntax


===================================================

-- Kirill Larionov larionovkm@f-m.fm
-- http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...