I don' agree with Khanban's reasons for not using the letter form <heh + hamzeh above>. The same reasons could be given for not using <vav + hamzeh above>. For example, {mas'ul} could also be written as {mas ool} (with alef instead of hamzeh), and {so'a^l} could also be written as {so aal} (with alef-madd instead of hamzeh); and it is quite possible that in the distant future people will start writing them that way. However, if it is true that the Unicode standard encodes this shape in a way that is not compatible with Farsi, then that would be a justifiable reason for not adopting it in the standard. But in that case, it should be explained in the standard why it cannot be adopted, and it should also be explained (especially for the benefit of software developers for whom Farsi is not the native language) that this shape is commonly used in Farsi, and that there is nothing to stop font dev!
elopers and application developers from supporting this shape as a ligature, provided that it is properly implemented so that it can be correctly parsed into its appropriate Unicode equivalents.
I have also noticed that on the latest ISRI standard for a Farsi keyboard layout, this shape is not supported either. It supports <vav + hamzeh above>, and even supports some obscure Arabic characters which are hardly ever used in Farsi, such as the <Arabic round T>, and <Arabic yeh with two dots below>, but not <heh + hamzeh above>, which is extensively used in farsi. There is no justification for this. The purpose of such standards should not be to tell people how to write Farsi. People decide how to write Farsi. The standard should encode and standardize what people write. A keyboard layout is not dependent on Unicode encodings. Since this letter form is used extensively in Farsi, it should be possible to enter it with a single stroke of the keyboard, as is the case with <vav + hamzeh above>, instead of having to type two key strokes to write it; and font and software d!
evelopers should be guided to support it as a ligature in their fonts and applications.
Abi
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