Re: OpenType vs TrueType (was current version of unicode-font)

From: John Hudson (tiro@tiro.com)
Date: Sat Dec 04 2004 - 14:15:00 CST

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    Antoine Leca wrote:

    >>>On Behalf Of Christopher Fynn
    >>>If a Windows application needs to properly display Unicode text for
    >>>languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Nepali, Sinhala, Arabic,
    >>>Urdu and so on then it probably needs to support OpenType GSUB and
    >>>GPOS lookups.

    >>Not just "probably".

    > Well, there are other rendering technologies than Uniscribe; and some of
    > them even succeed at displaying complex scripts...
    >
    > For a contrived yet verifiable (OpenSource) example, let have a look at Eric
    > Mader's LayoutEngine (in ICU) using Apple (GX) fonts with a Unicode cmap.
    > And yes I am talking of something that can run on Windows.

    I think Peter's point was that complex script require font layout tables (note that he did
    not mention Uniscribe, which is an MS text engine that is a *client* of OpenType fonts and
    the OpenType Layout Services library), whereas Chris had suggested that they 'probably
    need' them. An Apple AAT (GX) font also includes layout tables, although using a different
    approach than OT.

    John Hudson

    -- 
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