From: Peter Kirk (peterkirk@qaya.org)
Date: Wed Mar 24 2004 - 16:41:37 EST
On 24/03/2004 12:31, Kenneth Whistler wrote:
>>[1] http://www.bsblind.co.uk/full/moon/typeindx.htm
>>
>>
>
>Is Moon Type in actual use, or just a historical curiosity? William
>Moon was a 19th century figure.
>
>
>
The last section of "Moon, Matches and Microchips", accessible from
http://www.bsblind.co.uk/full/moon/index.htm, implies that Moon script
was in use in 1988. The following, from the recently updated
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_factlist.hcsp,
suggests that it is still in use:
> RNIB can help you put your information into the format you require. A
> number of factsheets on braille, Moon, large print and other media are
> available free of charge from RNIB Customer Services, PO Box 173,
> Peterborough, PE2 6WS, telephone 0845 702 3153.
See also
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_aboutbm.hcsp.
And there is a long (and recent) discussion about whether Moon might be
more suitable than Braille in
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_rnib003514.doc,
section 4.7.1.
So Moon is not just a historical curiosity. The only reason for it not
being suitable for Unicode, and the BMP, is the argument that it is a
cipher of Latin. But it has different layout characteristics as well as
its abbreviations and contractions. And surely Braille could equally be
considered a cipher of Latin script (although the same symbols are also
used as a cipher of other scripts).
-- Peter Kirk peter@qaya.org (personal) peterkirk@qaya.org (work) http://www.qaya.org/
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