I think I have got a rough understanding what alternative glyphs are,
but I still have a couple of questions whose answers would help to get
an understanding what supporting alternative glyphs would mean for ODF?
How are the alternative glyphs used from user perspective? Do I enter a
Unicode character, let's say a "g". The rendering engine then detects
that there are multiple glyphs available for the Unicode character, and
asks me which to show? Or does it select one for me that I can
overwrite, similar to how I can make a character bold? Or does it select
one based on some algorithms, and this is used?
In the first two cases we would probably need a new formatting property.
In the last case alternative glyphs could be supported by application
without any change to ODF itself.
How many alternative glyphs may exist for a Unicode character? Could
there be more than two glyphs for a character, and is one of these the
default?
How are the alternative glyphs identified? Do they have names? If there
is only a default glyph and an alternative glyph a boolean attribute may
be sufficient. Otherwise there must be a way to identify the alternative
glyphs.
Best regards
Michael
Duane Nickull wrote:
> I’d like to suggest if this is done, some form of anti-phishing
> operation is established to prevent people from spoofing URL’s using
> glyphs. IRI’s can be used to trick people.
>
> Duane
>
>
> On 07/07/08 2:56 PM, "Patrick Durusau" <> wrote:
>
> Rob,
>
> wrote:
> >
> > This is a specific feature in OpenType called "Alternative Glyphs"
> > where a single font can contain alternative glyphs for the same
> > unicode character.
> >
> Yes, but that is the same point that I made from a different
> perspective.
>
> With OpenType you have a font and hence a "default" glyph, so specifying
> an "alternative" glyph makes sense. But that presumes the use of an
> OpenType font which has that capability.
>
> My point was that in the abstract there is no default glyph, only the
> Unicode character point. For more you either have to rely on font
> technology (thanks for the OpenType reminder) or the markup layer. The
> point being that the support does not reside in the Unicode encoding.
>
> Hope you are having a great day!
>
> Patrick
>
>
> > See, for example: http://allthingsdesigned.com/alternativeglyphs
> >
> > -Rob
> >
> > Patrick Durusau <> wrote on 07/07/2008 04:50:40 PM:
> >
> > > Greetings!
> > >
> > > I think there may be two separate cases that are being covered
> by the
> > > term "alternative" glyphs.
> > >
> > > Properly speaking, Unicode points represent characters and not
> glyphs,
> > > so any glyph associated with a character is a matter of the font you
> > > choose and not an "alternative glyph." To say "alternative" glyph
> > > implies there is some default glyph, which is not true. The glyphs
> > shown
> > > in the Unicode standard are illustrative only.
> > >
> > > The first case for "alternative" glyphs is where I wish to specify a
> > > particular glyph for a character but other that perhaps being
> > > unattractive display, the information content of the text is the
> same.
> > > Choosing any of the Latin fonts would be a good example.
> > >
> > > The second case and I am not sure how often it would come up,
> would be
> > > where I use a particular code point, say for Middle Egyptian, but I
> > want
> > > a particular glyph, which was used for that character in a
> particular
> > > historic period or type of text, and not some other glyph for that
> > > character. While it is true that it is the "same" character, the
> > meaning
> > > on of the text would be changed if another glyph were
> substituted for
> > > the one I specify. Typically that sort of additional information is
> > left
> > > by Unicode to the markup layer.
> > >
> > > Rather than saying "alternative" glyphs I think it would be more
> > > accurate to speak of specifying a particular glyph or set of
> glyphs for
> > > some portion of text.
> > >
> > > Considered that way, how it that different from specifying a
> specific
> > > font be used with some particular span of text?
> > >
> > > Hope everyone is having a great day!
> > >
> > > Patrick
> > >
> > > --
> > > Patrick Durusau
> > >
> > > Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
> > > Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
> > > Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
> > > Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > To unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC that
> > > generates this mail. Follow this link to all your TCs in OASIS at:
> > >
> https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php
> > >
>
> --
> Patrick Durusau
>
> Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
> Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
> Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
> Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
>
> --
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--
Michael Brauer, Technical Architect Software Engineering
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