UTW 2025

Tutorial
Scripts & Encoding Fonts

Demystifying Unicode Text Display: From Unicode Code Points to Positioned Glyphs

Peter Constable, Ned Holbrook

on  Tue, 9:30in  for  90min

This session offers a practical overview of how Unicode text turns into what we see on screen. Aimed at i18n engineers and localizers, the talk will unravel the complex steps involved in displaying a single line of text, including font selection and fallback, bidi, shaping, glyph substitution, and more. Attendees will come away with a better understanding of Unicode and of text display behaviours that affect user experiences across languages.

 Overview  Program