Re: Re: Unicode Font Maker

["Thomas Milo" <t dot milo at chello dot nl>]

Here is a tremendous improvement over Microsoft's "Arabic Typesetting" font.
By simply omitting all ligatures (even al-laah is absent!), SIL managed to
produce two fonts that avoid making a mockery of the Islamic calligraphic
tradition, while offering basic legibility for the whole range of supported
Unicode characters. Not bad at all.

The fonts do indeed look awfully familiar: one of them is in fact described
as being "in a similar style as the Monotype naskh". Similar in style in
this case is an artistic euphemism. The new naskh (called Scheherazade and
for some reason spelled as in German -  Persian: شهرزاد Shahrzad) ) has the
exact same tell-tale design blunders as the Monotype naskh, in the letters
Sad and Tah: the top penstroke of the Sad extends under the base line in all
positions (which in naskh is the case in non-final position only), the top
penstroke of the Tah erroneously extends under the base line in middle
position: here clearly some un-initiated employee mixed up Sad and Tah
morphology, as the top penstroke of Tah never extends below the base line.
Monotype in turn made these mistakes when copying the 1924 King Fuad naskh
with only superficial knowledge of the subject matter (that this was in fact
the case can be seen from additional tell-tale mistakes that Monotype failed
to intercept when aorking from the Fuad naskh, and that, indeed, made their
way into all Monotype successive clones including these latest ones).

The accumulated mistakes of the Fuad naskh and the Monotype naskh found
their way into the SIL naskh, so these latest fonts stand firmly in the
Arabic typographic tradition. But it's a free download, so only professional
type designers can complain.

Together with the Gentium transcription font SIL succeeded in enabling
scholars to prepare their publications in Unicode format, so that
professional typesetters can ignore these public domain fonts without losing
essential information.

t


Connie Bobroff wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> You might like these new, free, unicode Arabic fonts.  They contain
> the Persian characters as well.
>
>
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=ArabicFonts
>
> Windows users want to download the "Open Type" version and
> Mac users need the "AAT".
>
>
> -Connie
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  ~  The ADABIYAT email list for Middle Eastern Literary Traditions   ~
>  ~  Archives (http://www.listserv.emory.edu/archives/adabiyat.html)  ~
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Conni
e Bobroff wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> You might like these new, free, unicode Arabic fonts.  They contain
> the Persian characters as well.
>
>
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=ArabicFonts
>
> Windows users want to download the "Open Type" version and
> Mac users need the "AAT".
>
>
> -Connie
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  ~  The ADABIYAT email list for Middle Eastern Literary Traditions   ~
>  ~  Archives (http://www.listserv.emory.edu/archives/adabiyat.html)  ~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mete Kural wrote:
>> I'm forwarding this email about font tools from the unicode list
>> since it is relevant to the recent discussion:
>>
>> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>> From: John Hudson <tiro at tiro dot com>
>> Date:  Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:55:31 -0700
>>
>> Adam Reisman wrote:
>>
>>> Can anyone recommend a program I can use to design unicode fonts?
>>
>> Professional tools:
>> http://www.fontlab.com/Font-tools/FontLab-4.6/
>> http://www.fontlab.com/Font-tools/AsiaFont-Studio/
>> http://www.fontmaster.nl/english/
>>
>>
>> Cheaper options:
>> http://www.fontlab.com/Font-tools/TypeTool/
>> http://www.high-logic.com/fcp.html
>>
>>
>> Free tools:
>> http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/
>>
>>
>> There is also a new shareware tool available from
>> http://www.cr8.netfirms.com/index10.html
>> but I have not tried it.
>>
>>
>> If you are interested in developing OpenType fonts with glyph
>> substitution and
>> positioning, you will also want to take a look at Microsoft's free
>> VOLT tool: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/VOLT.mspx
>>
>>
>> I recommend reading most of the developer links at the MS typography
>> website http://www.microsoft.com/typography
>> even if your target system is not Windows.
>>
>> John Hudson
>>
>> --
>>
>> Tiro Typeworks        www.tiro.com
>> Vancouver, BC        tiro at tiro dot com
>>
>> Currently reading:
>> Between silk and cyanide, by Leo Mark
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mete Kural
>> Touchtone Corporation
>> 714-755-2810
>> --
>>
>
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> General mailing list
>> General at arabeyes dot org
>> http://lists.arabeyes.org/mailman/listinfo/general