Re: [OpenType] PS glyph `phi' vs `phi1'

[Asmus Freytag]

At 12:13 AM 2/20/03 +0100, Werner LEMBERG wrote:

> Thanks.  As a conclusion it seems that both Adobe's mapping of
> U+03D5 and U+03C6 to glyph names and the Unicode annotation for
> U+03D5 is incorrect (in case backwards compatibility is of
> importance).
>
> The right mapping should be
>
>   phi   03D5
>   phi1  03C6

I have to correct myself, fortunately.  After looking into the printed
version of Unicode 2.0 I see that the glyphs of 03D5 and 03C6 in the
file U0370.pdf are exchanged.  Your assuption is correct that the
annotation in Unicode 3.2 is wrong.

The glyphs were changed between Unicode 2.0 and 3.0. They are now correct.
The reasons are stated in http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr25 (and also tr28, I believe).

The source of the earlier arrangment comes from the practice of ISO to show representative glyphs for the characters in 8859 and similar standards in their sans-serif forms. The 'loopy' phi is apparently used very commonly with serifed fonts, but equally commonly not used with sans-serifed fonts.

For Greek *text* that distinction is aesthetics only, but for mathematical use of Greek symbols the distinction is crucial. For more information see the reports cited.

A./

PS: The printed version of earlier versions of the Standard are of interested, but if there is a change, you must also consult all later versions, or you will miss the rationale for the change.