Inspired by a comment in the Unicode FAQ.
1. Boustrophedon top-to-bottom: early Greek
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
>>>cccccccccc
2. RTL top-to-bottom: Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian
aaaaaaaaaa<<<
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
cccccccccc<<<
3. RTL bottom-to-top: Orkhon (Yenisei, Kök Turki)
cccccccccc<<<
bbbbbbbbbb<<<
aaaaaaaaaa<<<
4. LTR top-to-bottom: Latin, Cyrillic
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
>>>bbbbbbbbbb
>>>cccccccccc
4. Downward columns (RTL): Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian
v v v
v v v
v v v
m g a
n h b
o i c
p j d
q k e
r l f
5. Downward columns (LTR): Mongolian, Egyptian
v v v
v v v
v v v
a g m
b h n
c i o
d j p
e k q
f l r
6. Downward in columns of two: Mayan
vv vv
vv vv
vv vv
ab kl
cd mn
ef op
gh qr
ij st
7. Upward columns (LTR): Batak
f l r
e k q
d j p
c i o
b h n
a g m
^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^
^ ^ ^
8. Upward boustrophedon (LTR): Ogham
f g h
e i
d j
c k
b l
a m
^ v
^ v
^ v
9. Rotated boustrophedon: Rongorongo
>>>cccccccccc
qqqqqqqqqq<<<
>>>aaaaaaaaaa
10. Spiral: Phaistos
k l m
j c
i b d
h a e
g f
==========
-- Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta ** http://www.indigo.ie/egt 15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire/Ireland Guthán: +353 1 478-2597 ** Facsa: +353 1 478-2597 (by arrangement) 27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn; Baile an Bhóthair; Co. Átha Cliath; Éire
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:45 EDT