From: Mark Davis (mark.davis@icu-project.org)
Date: Fri Oct 12 2007 - 10:39:36 CDT
> And that, since so many existing fonts don't support them, those users
> might just happen to see a visual indication that something isn't working.
Your chart example means absolutely zilch. In the Unicode charts, space is
given by a box with SP in it; tab is given by a box with HT in it;
zero-width joiner is given by a box with ZWJ in it. That simply doesn't mean
that a page should be littered with boxes (or moral equivalents thereto)
instead of invisible gaps for space or tab, or that ZWJ's in a position
where the adjacent characters cannot be joined should show up as boxes.
It is perfectly appropriate to have these kinds of visual appearances in a
chart, or in a Show Hidden mode. But they are just wrong for normal usage;
it's not the expected appearance to see SP, HT, and ZWJ boxes on a page
instead of their being invisible.
The VS is a *request* for a specific glyph variant, out of the many that
might be appropriate for a character. If that specific glyph variant is not
available, it is perfectly correct and desired to see another appropriate
variant instead. In that respect, it is like a joiner between characters
that can't join. You don't want to see a box.
Mark
On 10/12/07, James Kass <thunder-bird@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> Andrew West wrote,
>
> > ... Creating
> >such graphics may not be "normal usage" but it is a valid and probably
> >quite common usage, and I am glad that at least some fonts and
> >software support such usages.
>
> I'm glad, too.
>
> And, creating such graphics may be one of the most common current
> uses for VS characters.
>
> This may change soon with the Adobe proposal to register literally
> scads of "gaiji"* using variation sequences. (Note, Adobe already has
> an architecture ("SING") for handling "gaiji".)
>
> There may well be concern that users will actually employ such sequences.
> And that, since so many existing fonts don't support them, those users
> might just happen to see a visual indication that something isn't working.
> Wouldn't that be a shame? If some think it would be (a shame), then the
> current flurry of activity with respect to the display of unsupported
> characters (and sequences) becomes understandable, if no less
> unsupportable.
>
> Best regards,
>
> James Kass
>
> * Note, the term "gaiji" appears to mean "personal or idiosyncratic
> character" in Japanese. Something like that. (OK, it doesn't mean
> that, exactly. Look it up.)
>
>
>
-- Mark
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