Look at Figures 8-1 through 8-4 in the Unicode Standard 5.0. We see graphic characters shown, one representing space and two representing joiners. This is plain text. This is something one might wish to put on a web page or in an e-mail. One of the three characters is encoded.
Talking about the standard is *important*. Since the use of graphic characters in plain text is often cited as a criterion for encoding, and since some non-graphic characters in the standard have a SYMBOL FOR graphic representation, I do not, at all, think that it is unwise or capricious to suggest that other non-graphic characters in the standard also have a SYMBOL FOR graphic character which can be used to represent them. In fact, I think it would be advantageous to users of the standard and to promulgators of the standard for such symbols to be encoded. However, I agree with Asmus that in the context of the Wingdings-type symbols these characters should not be considered. They should be considered as a whole on their own. Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
