Thank you to Doug and to Asmus for replying.
Originally I was thinking of the format simply being so as to help to level the
infrastructural ground as between a PUA (Private Use Area) application using
left-to-right characters and a PUA application using right-to-left characters.
However, the research needs to proceed in the best direction so as to get the
best possible result, so I am happy for my original idea to be augmented and
changed if that is what is needed.
Do any people who would like to use PUA applications that use right-to-left
characters have any views on a format please? Is such a format regarded as
useful? What does it need to do?
What would be the features of a very minimal RTL constructed script that would
exhibit all of the features for which a researcher might want to use the
Private Use Area for research with a real-world RTL script please?
I am thinking of making a small font with some characters that consist of a
leftward pointing arrow with a broad tail with the tail having markings to give
a clue to the sound. These markings would be based on the hatching system used
for representing colours in monochrome. For example, vertical lines for r
because that is red or rouge, horizontal lines for b because that is blue or
bleu. I thought of having an o as an o drawn with a left arrow attached to it.
I could then produce a glyph for a br ligature and maybe a rb ligature. I am
thinking that the ligature glyphs could be wider, have only one leftward
pointing arrow yet have two types of markings on the tail of the arrow, side by
side.
Would that and a space be enough for a constructed script that would exhibit
the needed properties for a demonstration or would some more glyphs be needed?
My thinking is that the font, complete with its PUA.RTL assignment statement,
could be a benchmark test font for testing a "special researcher's edition" of
a wordprocessing application or a desktop publishing application. By using a
font for a minimal constructed script, the task of producing and testing the
"special researcher's edition" of a software application could be separated
from the complexities of a full real script, perhaps therefore increasing the
chances of the "special researcher's edition" of a software package being
produced.
I feel that I could make the font as a TrueType font. In order to produce an
OpenType font I would need to consolidate what I have started to learn about
OpenType fonts, though I would be happy for the TrueType font to be adapted by
other people if they so wish.
William Overington
24 August 2011
