From: Mete Kural (metek@touchtonecorp.com)
Date: Sun Jun 19 2005 - 15:25:16 CDT
Michael Everson wrote:
>Books for children learning to read the alphabet which require this
>kind of colour intervention are less than 1% of Arabic typesetting,
>surely.
The rest of the discussion aside, I am surprised to hear such an argument escpecially from you Michael. You have been the pioneer in encoding minority scripts that in terms of usage volume constitute much less than 1% of Arabic typography. I appreciate all your efforts in these areas but I am perplexed by your marginalizing books for children learning to read the alphabet (and a dozen of other applications I can cite where color coding is very useful) as 1% of Arabic typesetting.
I am copying this from the Unicode FAQ from unicode.org:
Q: What is the scope of Unicode?
A: Unicode covers all the characters for all the writing systems of the world, modern and ancient. It also includes technical symbols, punctuations, and many other characters used in writing text. ***The Unicode Standard is intended to support the needs of all types of users, whether in business or academia, using mainstream or minority scripts.***
I'd like to emphasize "the needs of all types of users, whether in business or academia, using mainstream or minority scripts." Please compare 1% of Arabic typesetting with many of the scripts that are listed here:
http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/sei/alpha-script-list.html
I do not think it is consistent of you to marginalize Arabic pedagogical books since it is less than 1% of Arabic typesetting. Nor I believe it is consistent with the above mentioned intention of the Unicode standard to support "the needs of all types of users, whether in business or academia, using mainstream or minority scripts."
Unicode has still yet to meet the needs of some users in academia and elsewhere. For instance Unicode Arabic still lacks the ability to fully encode the Qur'an as it is found in the printings, both ancient and contemporary. These issues are yet to be addressed and I hope that noone any more objects to these with the argument that it represents less than 1% of Arabic typesetting.
Kind regards,
Mete
-- Mete Kural Touchtone Corporation 714-755-2810 --
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