2013/3/9 Richard Wordingham <richard.wordingham_at_ntlworld.com>:
> In a real example of such a font, how would one adjust the position so
> that U+002E is on the baseline in section numbers but raised in genuine
> decimal numbers? (This is not an idiosyncratic style.)
In fact I would have even thought about the reverse :
- section numbers delimited/terminated by full stops *above* the
baseline (possibly using the MIDDLE DOT, without any other extra
spaces such as "1·1·2· Section Heading"), but
- decimal dots still being on the baseline (3.10, standard English
style), exactly like a decimal comma (3,10, standard French style;
never confused with a list as the comma must NOT be followed by any
extra space), just to avoid confusing it with a multiplication dot
(generally encoded using the MIDDLE DOT, but not necessarily
surrounded by spaces, as in "3·10 = 30", style used either in English
or French even if there is often some thin space surrounding binary
operators in maths styles generated by TeX).
Do you mean higher than baseline but still lower than the middle dot ?
What I've seen instead is a locale-neutral decimal separator
consisting in a small vertical line **hanging** from the baseline,
which would notamlly never be confused for something else.
Other variants include a small spacing circumflex hanging from the
baseline (may be slightly kerned below the digits on each side), or a
spacing caron/hacek (sometimes combined over the full stop or comma,
and then just used to disambiguate things or ro mark the position of
large groups of digits such as 6 where standard groups of 3 digits are
just separated by thin spaces).
In texts from Switzerland, I've seen vertical apostrophes (or raised
small vertical lines) being used as group separators and sometimes as
well above the decimal dot or comma (in which case that dot or comma
still remains on the baseline). Various forms of apostrophes may be
used (including primes and the ASCII apostrophe-quote, or a spacing
acute accent or backquote) for legacy reasons or because of
approximations in fonts or encodings, or because of author's
preferences.
Some LCD calculators may also display these grouping apostrophes
(including above the decimal dot or comma, the dot or comma being also
a possibly tunable display preference).
Received on Sat Mar 09 2013 - 11:27:30 CST
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