On 09/08/2003 13:23, Noah Levitt wrote:
According to the docs at
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otfntdev/indicot/other.htm,
uniscribe renders combining marks in isolation when they are
applied to SPACE + ZWJ. (Without the ZWJ, it uses a dotted
circle.) Perhaps this is an acceptable solution to the
people calling for a new character.
Combining marks and signs that appear in text not in
conjunction with a valid consonant base are considered
invalid. Uniscribe displays these marks using the fallback
rendering mechanism defined in the Unicode Standard
(section 5.12, 'Rendering Non-Spacing Marks' of the
Unicode Standard 3.1), i.e. positioned on a dotted circle.
Please note that to render a sign standalone (in apparent
isolation from any base) one should apply it on a space
(see section 2.5 'Combining Marks' of the Unicode
Standard). Uniscribe requires a ZWJ to be placed between
the space and a mark for them to combine into a standalone
sign.
Noah
This is a clear demonstration that Microsoft also has problems with the
mechanism which has been defined in the standard for ten years, that
space followed by diacritic is legal and should be rendered as the
isolated diacritic. But the alternative mechanism which they have
implemented is non-standard and apparently a defective combining
sequence, as ZWJ (if I remember correctly) is not a base character. The
best way to fix this situation is to define a new character with the
correct properties.
--
Peter Kirk
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (personal)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (work)
http://www.qaya.org/
