Re: [indic] Lack of Complex script rendering support on Android

Phillipe - some Android devices can render Indic scripts in the webkit
browser which seems to have its own complex script rendering module
built in. However outside the webkit browser complex scripts don't
work. I've also heard that some Samsung phones have implemented system
level complex script rendering that Samsung added themselves (i.e. it
is not part of the normal Android code-base modules).

IMO this is a mess. If i send an Indic script SMS, IM or email to
someone with a smart phone, it would be nice to have a reasonable
expectation that they can read my message - without having to know the
particular manufacturer and model number of the phone they have.

However I'd be interested to know if your Samsung S2 properly displays
complex scripts outside of Webkit.

- Chris

On 4 November 2011 20:35, Philippe Verdy <verdy_p_at_wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> 2011/11/4 Mahesh T. Pai <paivakil_at_gmail.com>:
>> Christopher Fynn said on Fri, Nov 04, 2011 at 02:27:30PM +0600,:
>>
>>  > Although Adnroid devices "support Unicode" - it seems there is no
>>  > support for complex script rendering on almost all Android devices
>>  > which makes them pretty useless for text communication in all Indian
>>  > languages (and many others too)
>>
>> And strangely, Android uses harfbuss, ICU and pango for text
>> layout. All libraries support Indic; and it seems that at compile
>> time, support for Indic is disabled.
>>
>> Thanks for taking the pain to identify the bug/ issue numbers.
>>
>> As pointed out, some devices sold in India support _some_ Indic
>> scripts. That is it.
>
> It may depend on the device. The manufacturer can compile Android as
> he wants apparently, and suppress/disable some modules. I have no
> problem on my Samsung S 2 that displays properly all languages shown
> on the home page of Wikimedia Commons for example.
>
>
>
Received on Sun Nov 06 2011 - 23:23:47 CST