Re: [I18n]Re: U+3000 limit

[Juliusz Chroboczek <jec at dcs dot ed dot ac dot uk>]

>> I still think that there is no point in working with core fonts any
>> more.  Core fonts are obsolescent in my opinion, and the OP really
>> should think about using Xft.

ME> Okay. Now my question is, is it safe to assume that every
ME> application will NOT use the core fonts and only use Xft?

You cannot just take any old application and assume it will support
Arabic glyph shaping.  Clients (or, more precisely, widget sets) will
need to be adapted to rpovide for glyph shaping.  Doing this will be
vastly easier and more general if you use Xft rather than core fonts.

The point of whether old clients will be able to see Arabic glyphs in
core fonts is therefore moot, as only new clients will be able to
display Arabic in a satisfactory manner.

Keith Packard:

KP> Yes, the existing XFree86 supplied X output method mechanism
KP> probably isn't sufficient to support Arabic, especially when
KP> drawing words along a diagonal baseline.

I dont think you need support diagonal baselines for the type of
typography that's common in the Arab world; it's only needed for
proper typesetting of Persian.

KP> OpenType fonts contain quite a bit of layout information; if
KP> that's sufficient for your needs...

According to my Jordanian office neighbour, Microsoft Windows does a
perfectly satisfactory job of supporting Arabic; and as far as I know
they use OpenType.

                                        Juliusz