Re: Justification (was Re: Unicode Font Maker)

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

indeed.

t


Mete Kural wrote:
>> Hello Gregg,
>> 
>> By <TATWEEL> you mean the Unicode codepoint 0640 Arabic Tatweel?
>> Using 0640 Tatweel in Arabic text on a regular basis is a
>> non-starter. Tatweel is a typographic feature, it shouldn't be
>> encoded in raw text. But a rendering engine could perhaps make use
>> of it by pre-processing raw encoded text and inserting tatweels
>> where desired before sending it to be rendered. An encoder should
>> not have to encode Tatweels on a regular basis in Arabic text.      
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Mete
>> 
>> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>> From: Gregg Reynolds <gar at arabink dot com>
>> Reply-To: General Arabization Discussion <general at arabeyes dot org>
>> Date:  Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:02:03 -0500
>> 
>>> Thomas Milo wrote:
>>>> Meor Ridzuan Meor Yahaya wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Do you have ideas on arabic justification that you don't mind
>>>>> sharing with us?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Yes. Considering keshide or madd a justification aid does not do
>>>> justice to the art of calligraphy or typesetting. Keshide is an
>>>> esthric device, not a trick. It serves to change the general
>>>> appearance of text, in other words, you use them or you don't. If
>>>> used, in calligraphy and well-executed typesetting, keshide is
>>>> bound to many contextual constraints, which, just like the
>>>> ligature system, are not generally know among computer
>>>> enthousiasts, with devastating consequences for the Islamic art of
>>>> text composition. 
>>>> 
>>>> To sum it up: justification can very well be achieved by subtle
>>>> variation in intra-word and inner-word spacing. Only as a last
>>>> resort keshide should be used for justification.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Here's my solution:  define <TATWEEL> to mean "this place is a
>>> candidate for extension of the line, regardless of coloration",
>>> such that it takes on color based on context.  E.g.
>>> <k><tatweel><t><b> means the positive (inked) space between <k> and
>>>  <t> (i.e. the tiestroke) may be extended. <d><tatweel><w><r> means
>>> the negative space (whitespace) between <d> and <w> may be
>>> extended.  The relative extent of such stretching would be set by
>>> typesetting policy in the software.  Then there are four groups of
>>> extension candidates: ordinary inter-word negative space,
>>> explicitly specified stretch candidates (using tatweel), and
>>> ordinary intra-word positive (black) and negative (white) space. 
>>> It's up to the composition system to set policy regarding how extra
>>> space is distributed among these categories.  This is pretty much
>>> how the TeX justification algorithm works. 
>>> 
>>> -gregg
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Mete Kural
>> Touchtone Corporation
>> 714-755-2810
>> --
>> 
> 
> 
> 
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