Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

[John R. Culleton]

First I ask the question: is Context the right tool for rtl
typesetting of e.g, Farsi? 

Second I would like a reference to the pertinent Context manual
or module for such typesetting. 

Finally I would like to know if there is a typescript extant for
Farsi (Persian) wich I believe uses the Arabic alphabet with some
modifications. 
-- 
John Culleton
Books with answers to marketing and publishing questions:
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Re: Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

[Hans Hagen]

John R. Culleton wrote:

>First I ask the question: is Context the right tool for rtl
>typesetting of e.g, Farsi? 
>
>Second I would like a reference to the pertinent Context manual
>or module for such typesetting. 
>
>Finally I would like to know if there is a typescript extant for
>Farsi (Persian) wich I believe uses the Arabic alphabet with some
>modifications. 
>  
>
well, idris is using context for professional publications so rlt is 
possible ...

Hans

Re: Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

[Idris Samawi Hamid]

On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:18:54 -0700, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:

> John R. Culleton wrote:
>
>> First I ask the question: is Context the right tool for rtl
>> typesetting of e.g, Farsi? Second I would like a reference to the  
>> pertinent Context manual
>> or module for such typesetting. Finally I would like to know if there  
>> is a typescript extant for
>> Farsi (Persian) wich I believe uses the Arabic alphabet with some
>> modifications.
> well, idris is using context for professional publications so rlt is  
> possible ...

In a recent thread with Mojca I give instructions to do basic utf-8 or  
Latin-transcription Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu typesetting in ConTeXt using  
Aleph and the basic unicode fonts that came with Omega. The font is very  
basic, though. Much more advanced stuff is possible as well, using better  
fonts, and I am working on an advanced Arabic-script typesetting system  
which, while still experimental, produces some of the nicest Arabic script  
available-) (I can send you samples if you like off-list)

No manuals, but go here to get a flavor of things:

http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d97ost/omega-example.html
tex/context/base/m-gamma.tex
tex/context/base/type-omg.tex

You can use whatever font your client prefers, particularly if it does not  
involve a lot of ligatures or vowels (most fonts used in Persian  
typesetting are pretty basic in this regard, with the very important  
exception of Nastaliq, which TeX/Aleph cannot do quite yet...)

As soon as Giuseppe and Hans get in sync on the future direction of things  
in the internals of aleph and pdftex-) we should soon have Arabic-script  
typesetting approaching a par with the Latin. Hopefully the two projects  
will merge soon, and there has already been some movement in that  
direction. In particular, the microtypography features of pdftex may  
hopefully be extended to include, e.g., glyph substitution to get optimal  
paragraph justification (since Arabic script does not have hyphenation,  
etc....)

Best
Idris

-- 
Professor Idris Samawi Hamid
Department of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

Re: Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

[Idris Samawi Hamid]

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 08:25:16 -0700, Idris Samawi Hamid  
<ishamid@colostate.edu> wrote:

> You can use whatever font your client prefers, particularly if it does  
> not involve a lot of ligatures or vowels (most fonts used in Persian  
> typesetting are pretty basic in this regard, with the very important  
> exception of Nastaliq, which TeX/Aleph cannot do quite yet...)

Clarification: you can use heavy vowels and ligatures; it's just a lot of  
tedious work to set up...

-- 
Professor Idris Samawi Hamid
Department of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

Re: Right-to-left typesetting in Farsi for Context.

[John R. Culleton]

On Tuesday 10 January 2006 10:25 am, Idris Samawi Hamid wrote:
> On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:18:54 -0700, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:
> > John R. Culleton wrote:
> >> First I ask the question: is Context the right tool for rtl
> >> typesetting of e.g, Farsi? Second I would like a reference to the
> >> pertinent Context manual
> >> or module for such typesetting. Finally I would like to know if there
> >> is a typescript extant for
> >> Farsi (Persian) wich I believe uses the Arabic alphabet with some
> >> modifications.
> >
> > well, idris is using context for professional publications so rlt is
> > possible ...
>
> In a recent thread with Mojca I give instructions to do basic utf-8 or
> Latin-transcription Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu typesetting in ConTeXt using
> Aleph and the basic unicode fonts that came with Omega. The font is very
> basic, though. Much more advanced stuff is possible as well, using better
> fonts, and I am working on an advanced Arabic-script typesetting system
> which, while still experimental, produces some of the nicest Arabic script
> available-) (I can send you samples if you like off-list)
>
> No manuals, but go here to get a flavor of things:
>
> http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d97ost/omega-example.html
> tex/context/base/m-gamma.tex
> tex/context/base/type-omg.tex
>
> You can use whatever font your client prefers, particularly if it does not
> involve a lot of ligatures or vowels (most fonts used in Persian
> typesetting are pretty basic in this regard, with the very important
> exception of Nastaliq, which TeX/Aleph cannot do quite yet...)
>
> As soon as Giuseppe and Hans get in sync on the future direction of things
> in the internals of aleph and pdftex-) we should soon have Arabic-script
> typesetting approaching a par with the Latin. Hopefully the two projects
> will merge soon, and there has already been some movement in that
> direction. In particular, the microtypography features of pdftex may
> hopefully be extended to include, e.g., glyph substitution to get optimal
> paragraph justification (since Arabic script does not have hyphenation,
> etc....)
>
> Best
> Idris

Thanks very much. The OP is not a client but another eager TeX
novice. I relayed the information to him and he is busily
acquainting himself with the tools you mentioned. 
-- 
John Culleton
Books with answers to marketing and publishing questions:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/shortlist.pdf

Book coaches, consultants and packagers:
http://wexfordpress.com/tex/packagers.pdf