Observations on Unicode, RunRev and Operating Systems

[Richmond]

  On 9/3/10 11:27 PM, Scott Rossi wrote:
> Recently, Richmond wrote:
>
>> If one opens a Unicode font with a font development program what the
>> user sees are lots and lots of glyphs; what most people don't see are
>> all sorts of
>> rules as to how they should behave when the end-user types something
>> using that
>> font, possibly also using a text-encoding algorithm built into their
>> operating system.
>>
>> Why should we care?
>>
>> Because, while Windows Vista and '7', and Linux works wonderfully with
>> Unicode
>> fonts giving those rules cognisance, Mac OS and Windows XP don't . . .
> What do you mean "all sorts of rules as to how they should behave"?  Kerning
> pairs?  Ligatures?  Multi-key characters?  Something else?
>
> If you're really talking about Mac OS (pre OS X), I wouldn't be surprised.

I am talking about Mac OS X . . .

To illustrate the point you can download a stack which illustrates the 
point rather
nicely:

http://andregarzia.on-rev.com/richmond/STUFF/Daft_Unicode.zip

the ZIP file contains the Sanskrit2003 font (which you should install on 
your system, at least temporarily)
and a stack which uses the font to illustrate the point.

I you have access to a number of machines running a selections of 
operating systems you
will see the 'problem' in all its glory.

> AFAIK, Unicode was only in its infancy when Mac OS was around, and general
> adoption probably took a while.  By then, OS X was coming on the scene, so
> presumably most/all development efforts were shifted to that OS.

Well, somebody forgot a thing or two about Unicode with Mac OS X, and 
the Apple people
probably need a "prod" about that.

> Regards,
>
> Scott Rossi
> Creative Director
> Tactile Media, UX Design
>
>
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