Re: Hex-byte pictures (WAS: RE: Hexadecimal digits?)

From: Philippe Verdy (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Mon Nov 10 2003 - 05:46:45 EST

  • Next message: Kent Karlsson: "RE: ZWJ, ZWNJ, CGJ and combination"

    From: "Simon Butcher" <pickle@alien.net.au>
    > > > BTW, Frank also had other proposals which included the IBM 3270
    > > > characters I think you were referring to (poke around the
    > > directory at
    > > > <http://www.funet.fi/pub/kermit/ucsterminal/>)..
    > >
    > > I am not proposing to encode all terminal function indicators
    > > in Unicode.
    > >
    > > Else it would mean that we could as well standardize of those many
    > > icons found in toolbars of GUI applications. If these symbols appear
    > > in printed documentations, they are still snapshots of icons used in
    > > a particular program or device, and not intended to be part of
    > > interchanged documents...
    > <snip>
    >
    > I wasn't either - just pointing it out. I agree entirely :)

    However, some symbols used as function indicators are now quite omnipotent,
    and easily recognized with a well-defined meaning or function.

    Some of them are encoded in Wingdings or Webdings, but some others may merit
    their encoding as symbols, like:
    - the note tip,
    - the attachment symbol ("trombonne" in French, "Bürobriefklammer" in
    German, I don't know the term in English),
    - the flag symbol (added by users reading lists of items, like emails in an
    inbox folder or interesting products in a catalog for which a future action
    is required), or the visual glasses (to mark interesting items)
    - the dustbin ("corbeille") used to mark items without interest,
    - religious symbols commonly found in newspapers in their classified
    necrologic ads.

    These ideographic symbols (with a semantic meaning) are more meaningful than
    various forms of dots, arrows and shapes. They will find more application
    within text files than:
    - conventional symbols used on geographic maps (not plain text) and that
    were encoded in *dings collections,
    - symbols used as road indicators (which are useful only in this context,
    and dependant of local usage, and require specific ink colors, and precize
    shape, and do not fit with the abstract character model)
    - national/regional flags and heraldic symbols (for the same reason that
    they require their ink colors and precise proportions and positioning to get
    their meaning).

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Nov 10 2003 - 06:32:59 EST