Ken: Speaking for Sybase products, "fixing" the combining classes of the existing vowels would have *no* positive impacts. It would have a large number of negative impacts, the ultimate ramifications of which I cannot even follow to their eventual conclusions. ...
I hope you will excuse my ignorance, but I do not understand how correcting the canonical classes is such a huge technical problem. If anyone has already normalized their biblical Hebrew data, they have trashed it, and it will have to be re-done anyway. Secondly, the Character Properties would appear to be one huge matrix which would be called by any software needing to know these. Why can't we just fix the database? :) I am completely ignorant of the mechanics of sorting algorithms and whatever types of software are required to implement canonical classes. However I can tell you it is no small thing to write in some kind of intelligence in every future keyboard, conversion table, and search engine for Hebrew just to identify how to undo "Yerushali-am". And having to trick every browser is no small feat either. And that is only one exception of the many that have been discussed. Joan Wardell Non-Roman Script Initiative - SIL Hebrew Font Project Manager
