From: Mark E. Shoulson (mark@kli.org)
Date: Thu Jun 30 2005 - 22:38:48 CDT
John Hudson wrote:
> Dean Snyder wrote:
>
>> If it were a combining character it could be useful for indicating the
>> baseline in all sorts of contexts.
>
>
> I'm specifically looking for a base, not a combining mark. The tablua
> accentum on the handy bookmark that came with my BHS uses the
> convention to which I refer: a line relative to which the nikud and
> te'amim are positioned. Personally, I think it is a lousy convention:
> the dotted circle or some other generic mark that approximates the
> proportions of an actual letter is better than this line.
>
Baseline works okay with under-the-letter vowels or accents; it's lousy
for things positioned anywhere else.
> An application should be able to indicate the baseline, if that is a
> desirable feature. Having a baseline indicator as a combining
> character is unnecessarily complex.
>
That's the thing, Dean has a good point. It would seem to be a Useful
Thing to be able to show the baseline, not necessarily with a character
involved (i.e. I don't think such a baseline character should
necessarily be combining; it would be good as a base). Such a thing
wouldn't/shouldn't be peculiar to Hebrew; baseline is a common feature
in much of typesetting. Is it really character-worthy? Ummmmm...
maybe. The world isn't going to come to a screeching halt without one,
but the idea has some merit. Might be better to find some support for
it in print. (is 0640 good for it, as suggested?)
~mark
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