. Asmus Freytag wrote, > Variation selectors also can be ignored based on their code > point values, but unlike p14 tags, they don't become invalid > when text is cut&paste from the middle of a string.
Excellent point. > Unicode 4.0 will be quite specific: P14 tags are "reserved for > use with particular protocols requiring their use" is what the > text will say more or less. This seems to be an eminently practical solution to the P14 situation. If I were using an application which invoked a protocol requiring P14 tags to read a file which included P14 tags and wanted to cut and paste text into another application, in a perfect world the application would be savvy enough to recognize any applicable P14 tags for the selected text and insert the proper Variation Selectors into the text stream to be pasted. The application which received the pasted text, if it was an application which used a protocol requiring P14 tags, would be savvy enough to strip the variation selectors and enclose the pasted string in the appropriate P14 tags. If the pasted material was being inserted into a run of text in which the same P14 tag applied, then the tags wouldn't be inserted. If the pasted material was being inserted into a run of text in which a different P14 tag applied, then the application would insert begin and end P14 tags as needed. In a perfect world, in the best of both worlds, both P14 tags and variation selectors could be used for this purpose. Is it likely to happen? Perhaps not. But, by not formally deprecating P14 tags and using (more or less) the language you mentioned, the possibilities remain open-ended. Best regards, James Kass .
