The implementation of the <hamzeh> in the Farsi and Arabic typography
presents certain difficulties, because its vertical (and horizontal)
distance varies depending on where it is positioned in the text. It can be
positioned vertically anywhere above or below the <alef>, and a wide range
of distances in between. Its horizontal distance can also vary widely
because the width of the characters on which it can be positioned can vary,
as well as its location on the characters. For these reasons it is very
difficult to create a font with a single <hamzeh> which can be correctly
positioned on any location required. In the new OpenType font standard it
does provide sophisticated techniques to enable you to do that, but with the
older TrueType and PostScript fonts that is very difficult, if not
impossible. For these reasons the most efficient way to generate these
characters is in the form of ligatures, or better still, as individual
Unicode glyphs. As it turns out, Unicode does indeed recognise each of these
shapes as individually coded glyphs, so there is no problem. The only
exception to this rule seems to be the Farsi <heh + hamzeh>. But that is not
the fault of Unicode. It is up to the Iranians to ensure that their language
is properly represented in Unicode.
In the in the final version of the Persian IT standard published on the
Internet, it is suggested that this shape can be typed by typing the
individual characters <heh> followed by the <hamzeh>. There are two reasons
why that is not the best solution. The first is the one given above. The
second is the fact that this shape is so common in Farsi that it is more
economical to be able to type it with one keystroke rather than two. A
better solution is either to represent it as a ligature, or better still, to
ensure that it is recognised in Unicode as an independent glyph with a
unique code value. It also means that it should be supported in the Farsi
keyboard standard by being assigned an independent key.
Unicode is not interested in the meanings given to a character in a given
language. It is only interested in their physical representation. It is up
to the individual languages to interpret each character according to the
rules of each language. In Farsi, a <hamzeh> placed above a <heh> has very
different significance than one placed above <alef>. But to Unicode it is
just <hamzeh>.
Abi
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