On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:50:58 -0700, Mojca Miklavec
<mojca.miklavec.li...@gmail.com> wrote:
2010/11/29 Idris Samawi Hamid ادريس سماوي حامد wrote:
On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:03:06 -0700, Khaled Hosny wrote:
OK: In that case, let's include the standard Scheharezade as is in the
minimals until another unicode-complete font comes along. It has an Open
Font License so should be no problem.
Mojca: Till then, where do you suggest placing Scheharezade in the tree?
If we make some font the default one ... it makes sense to put it on
CTAN and include it in TeX Live as well, right?
Well, I only use ConTeXt;-) but TeXLive could use a default Arabic font as
well for XeTeX (a fellow SIL project); surprised it's not there already ...
But then ... I somehow find it a bit weird to have Arabic fallback
inside Latin Modern unless a user requests that explicitely and also
says which font he wants to use. That it: I would suggest to have some
setting that would tell exactly which glyphs to replace in the main
font, which features to use ... but then the user would say that this
font needs to be added.
What we need is for new users to be able to say, eg,
\setmainlanguage[arabic]
\setupdirections[bidi=global] % maybe this should be implied by
\setmainlanguage[arabic]
\starttext
أهلا بالعالم!
\stoptext
And get Scheharezade without doing anything else.
Indeed, especially once bidi is fully tested etc, one should be able to do
just
\starttext
أهلا بالعالم!
\stoptext
and get correct Arabic output, with an implied
\setupdirections[bidi=local]
In other words, users need to be able to invoke default Arabic without
doing really much of anything, just as they currently do with LM. Then
users can switch fonts, adjust bidi controls, change features etc.
Since LM has no Arabic, "replacement" of glyphs is not an issue, and
Scheharezade is simple enough that a default feature set will suffice.
Default Arabic boosts moral, attracts more users, saves time on the list,
helps to focus on bugs and tweaks [as opposed to "How can I get
Arabic-script working"], is a Good Idea (TM) etc :-)
Best wishes
Idris
--
Professor Idris Samawi Hamid, Editor-in-Chief
International Journal of Shīʿī Studies
Department of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
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