Re: Character identities

From: Otto Stolz (Otto.Stolz@uni-konstanz.de)
Date: Thu Oct 24 2002 - 09:47:05 EDT

  • Next message: Kent Karlsson: "RE: Character identities"

    David J. Perry had written:
    > An OpenType font that is smart enough to substitute a long s glyph at the
    > right spots is the much superior long-term solution.

    This will not work, cf. infra.

    David Starner wrote:
    > no matter what the convention, it requires a dictionary lookup for

    > various case;

    A dictionary lookup will not suffice, as there are pairs of words
    differing only in an "ſ" vs. "s" (long vs. round s), e. g.
    · Wachſtube ['vaxʃtu:bə] = guard room
    · Wachstube ['vakstu:bə] = wax tube
    [Pronounciation in brackets]

    To substitute a long s glyph at the right spots you must fully
    analyse the sentence -- grammatically, and in cases as in the
    previous example, even semantically -- to find the correct
    spelling. Hence, it is much easier to type the "ſ", and "s",
    characters in their proper places, and then replace "ſ" with
    "s", if so desired.

    Fuzzy searches should equate "ſ" with "s". Apparently,
    Google.de doesn't do it right: a search vor "Kinderſtube"
    yields no hits, while a search for "Kinderstube" yields
    about 10700.

    Best wishes,
       Otto Stolz



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