From: Kenneth Whistler (kenw@sybase.com)
Date: Mon Nov 29 2004 - 15:09:01 CST
Otoo Stolz asked:
> In German, however, a ligature must not span a syllable break.
> How should I code plain text, w.r.t. hyphenation and ligatures?
> - "Huf" + ZWNJ + "lattich"
> - "Huf" + SYH + "lattich"
> - "Huf" + SYH + ZWNJ + "lattich"
> - "Huf" + ZWNJ + SYH + "lattich"
You should code it as:
"Huflattich"
You then handle ligation suppression in a high-end rendering
system either by exception dictionaries or by simply
selecting "Huflattich" and setting a "ligaturing Off" property
to suppress the "fl" ligation in that particular instance.
There is no reason whatsoever to be agonizing about how to
*convey* this level of detail -- in German, French, or
whatever -- in plain text.
If you are working with high end rendering where the exact
details of the ligature rendering are of concern for your
final presentation, then you are working with a rich text
system, anyway, which has all kinds of tools for dealing with
such issues. And hyphenation is typically done via higher
level protocol (hyphenation engines using dictionaries), rather
than trying to indicate hyphenation points explicitly in
plain text that way.
--Ken
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