At 15:48 2/4/2002, Michael \(michka\) Kaplan wrote:
>SIDE NOTE: The fact that this discussion is going on would perhaps be
>further proof that variation selectors are opening up a can of worms we do
>not want to be opened...
It certainly blurs the distinction between character processing and glyph
processing. There was some discussion on this topic last week on the
OpenType list, including some comments from the MS and Adobe type groups
about they're plans for handling variant selector-controlled substitution
in fonts. My guess is that it is at least going to require a new
informative appendix to the OpenType spec. Those of us who respect Unicode
will do what we can to discourage our colleagues from abusing the variant
selectors, but type designers are an anarchic lot. Give them a variant
selector and next thing you know they're using it to activate alternate
swash smallcap currency symbols.
John Hudson
Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
Vancouver, BC tiro@tiro.com
... es ist ein unwiederbringliches Bild der Vergangenheit,
das mit jeder Gegenwart zu verschwinden droht, die sich
nicht in ihm gemeint erkannte.
... every image of the past that is not recognized by the
present as one of its own concerns threatens to disappear
irretrievably.
Walter Benjamin
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