FAQ entry (was: Looking for information on the UnicodeData file)

From: John Cowan (jcowan@reutershealth.com)
Date: Wed Mar 05 2003 - 12:20:43 EST

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    I've reformatted Pim Blokland's question as a Unicode FAQ.

    Q: What do the terms "turned", "inverted", "reversed", "rotated",
    "inverse", "digraph", and "ligature" used in the names of Unicode
    characters mean?

    A: These terms are basically typographical rather than Unicode-specific.

    A turned character is one that has been rotated 180 degrees around its
    center. A turned "e" winds up with the opening in the upper left portion.
    U+0259 LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA is a turned "e".

    An inverted character has been flipped along the horizontal axis.
    An inverted "e" winds up with the opening in the upper right portion.
    There is no Unicode character representing an inverted "e".

    A reversed character has been flipped along the vertical axis.
    A reversed "e" winds up with the opening in the lower right portion.
    U+0258 LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED E is an reversed "e".

    A rotated character has been rotated 90 degrees, but one can't tell
    which way without looking at the glyph. U+213A ROTATED CAPITAL Q is a
    "Q" that has been rotated counterclockwise.

    "Inverse" means that the white parts of the glyph are made black, and
    vice versa. An inverse "e" looks like a normal "e" but is white on a
    black background. There is no Unicode character representing an
    inverse "e".

    Digraphs and ligatures are both made by combining two glyphs. In a digraph,
    the glyphs remain separate but are placed close together. In a ligature,
    the glyphs are fused into a single glyph.

    -- 
    A mosquito cried out in his pain,               John Cowan
    "A chemist has poisoned my brain!"              http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
            The cause of his sorrow                 http://www.reutershealth.com
            Was para-dichloro-                      jcowan@reutershealth.com
    Diphenyltrichloroethane.                                (aka DDT)
    


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