Re: Making necessary OpenType features on by default

["Idris Samawi Hamid" <ishamid@colostate.edu>]

On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:15:02 -0700, Khaled Hosny <khaledhosny@eglug.org>  
wrote:

>> The key point is that SIL has taken care to support nearly every
>> Arabic-script language, not just Arabic, so this gives us a platform  
>> that
>> all Arabic-script users can use by default until other free fonts -- or  
>> a
>> fork of Scheherazade -- become available.
>
> I already have a fork, I just don't want to encourage people to use such
> aesthetically poor fonts, but as it seems to be the only solution at
> hand right now (especially the Unicode covering), I think I'll try to
> clean my font and publish it this week ISA.

Ok, great!

>> BTW: There is an الله lig in Scheherazade -- rather unattractive, but
>> it's there. Maybe you have an old version?
>
> Sorry, yes it has one but is no better than not having one at all.

It's ugly, no doubt, but we can easily replace it, and a couple of the  
other specials as well.

<snip>

>> See the above... make a list of errors in the font and we'll both work  
>> on
>> it one way or other. Back to Lotus: I suggest to you and Otared the
>> following project: develop Scheherazade into a free alternative to  
>> Lotus.
>> Lotus is that is as close to a pure OpenType font as we are going to
>> easily get. Although it supports less of Arabic-script unicode than
>> Scheherazade, it is a standard in the Arabic-script publishing world. So
>> if our default interface supports Lotus and Scheherazade out of the box,
>> we will be well on our way to what you guys are looking for.
>
> My initial idea was to extend Scheherazade in a similar way, but I gave
> up on this, there are so many similar glyphs in the Arabic Unicode block
> that a simple ligature like بي means 28 (Baa' forms) * 10 (Yaa' forms):
> 280 glyphs for one ligatures, I don't think this is a wise idea.

Sure, but again

لا يسقط الميسور بالمعسور

So just start with Arabic, then Farsi, and forget the rest for now. No  
need for perfection at the outset ;-)

Actually, I suggest forgetting about ligatures etc. for now, and just get  
the basics done for Scheherazade. We can work on ligatures etc later.

سلام
Idris

-- 
Professor Idris Samawi Hamid, Editor-in-Chief
International Journal of Shi`i Studies
Department of Philosophy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

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