Re: Control picture glyphs

From: James Kass (thunder-bird@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Aug 29 2007 - 16:20:03 CDT

  • Next message: Kenneth Whistler: "Cadratin (was: RE: Control picture glyphs (was Re: Apostrophes at www.unicode.org)"

    Asmus Freytag wrote,

    > There's no way the
    >application writer can rely on the font in that situation, short of
    >there being an additional agreement with *all* font vendors what a
    >"perfectly good" glyph is.

    Generally, the application is *required* to use a glyph from the
    selected font, if the selected font has a glyph mapped with the
    character being called. The application must rely on the font --
    that's what fonts are for.

    Asmus is correct, though, in this section. Applications can substitute
    pictures in lieu of font-specific control picture character glyphs. The
    choice is best left to the application designer. (T.U.S. 5.0 p. 508 for
    more detail.)

    >We disagree about what is desirable behavior on fundamental level, I
    >believe, so it's not useful for me to comment on the remainder of your
    >message.

    It can often be useful to identify points of divergence. It can help
    promote better understanding of two sides of an issue, for one thing.

    I wonder if we differ in the value we place on the importance of
    authorial intent.

    If an author takes time and trouble to insert a VS character, there's
    a reason for it (however nebulous). Because I regard intent as so
    important, I want to be able to either see what the author intended
    (everything working properly, normal display), or I want to be
    able to see that I can't see what the author intended (broken display
    indicates a problem). In WYSIWYG editors, in plain-text editors,
    in the plain-text world.

    It is hoped that options will be preserved for users with various
    expectations.

    Best regards,

    James Kass



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