Testing Unicode Characters

[GammaS]

Can anyone tell me how to test characters using their Unicode Codepoint? For example I have added a character to an existing font which is Unicode hexadecimal $27C3. Is there anyway to test such characters before installing the font. After the font is installed I typically enter such characters by typing the hexadecimal Unicode and then Pressing Alt-x, e.g. 27C3Alt-x. This does not work in the F5 test area. I want to ensure before installing that this unusual method of entering characters extending beyond the normal 255 character limit will work when I add a new character such as described, or modify an existing Unicode character.
Thanks
GammaS

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

If you leave the Font Test window open, you can switch to any application and select the temporary font to test it there. The temporary font's name is shown in the Font Test Window title bar like this:

Test Font.png (14.61 KiB) Viewed 5198 times

[timza]

Would the following test page be helpful for testing Unicode fonts? It is wonderful that we can use the temporary font to test, but then we need the characters.

https://www.terena.org/activities/multi ... s1ucs.html

There are also several test pages linked on the following page:

http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts_windows.html

Since Arial Unicode MS has all the glyphs from the Unicode 2.0 standard, that may be a good font to compare to.

[Leon Gauthier]

Bhikkhu Pesala said:
If you leave the Font Test window open, you can switch to any application and select the temporary font to test it there. The temporary font's name is shown in the Font Test Window title bar like this:

Nice to know. I wondered what the numbers in the Test Font name meant.

Apparently, LibreOffice substitutes glyphs from another font when they are missing in the test font. Any idea how to control or change that?
(I'll figure out this quote thing eventually)

[MikeW]

Leon,

This issue of glyph substitution in LO/OO was debated 10 or more years ago. Last I knew, everyone's bug report or enhancement request was turned down as a Will Not Fix.

Are you using Windows? Consider purchasing the previous version of PagePlus (which is X7) if you are doing anything beyond basic typing needs with a word processor.

I use LO. But I use it for only letter writing and for the couple clients that send me copy in it. Same goes for MS Word. I wouldn't otherwise use a Word Processor. PagePlus is about the best and least expensive layout application. But as a layout application, it makes for using it as a word processor not so great. What it doesn't handle as of the current version (which is X8) is GPOS-only kerning. I expect (perhaps hope) that this will be rectified with its next release. In any case, PP X7 can be purchased for very little money from Serif directly. Just a thought.

Mike

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

DrawPlus X8 is another possible choice. It could be used to draw glyphs, export to EPS or PDF, and import those into FontCreator. DrawPlus X8 does support GPOS kerning (below is unkerned and kerned Linux Libertine text, which has no "kern" table), so support for GPOS kerning will surely follow in PagePlus 9, although it is not currently supported.

PagePlus X7 would be a good choice for testing OpenType features as it's only £20. The Insert Symbol dialogue makes it easy to insert any Unicode character, or there's the Hex to Unicode command (Alt X).

Linux Libertine.png (11.32 KiB) Viewed 4985 times

[Leon Gauthier]

Mike,
I am not so sure that this is just a LO/OO "problem" the same thing seems to happen within FC as well. I've added breves and macrons to text within the "Test current font as TTF/OTF" window using the unicodes as in Alt+0304 and Alt+0306 in a font which had those glyphs as shown below:

Rockrose02.PNG (55.4 KiB) Viewed 4985 times

However, when I do the same in a font which does not have those glyphs, both the underlying characters and the glyphs are replaced as shown here:

Rockrose01.png (46.82 KiB) Viewed 4985 times

So, I suspect that this is a Windows trick.

I'll check out PagePlus but I really don't think I need page layout software as I don't really do hard copy production. I use word processing as you do and for "testing" or as intermediary for Jutoh -> ODT -> PDF.

[Leon Gauthier]

I stepped into the deep end of the pool (FC 9.0) because I want to “optimize” my Jutoh created epubs with the lightest possible embedded fonts. I do not always need the full load like those fonts on my Windows machine (which I can't use for embedding anyway) but I do sometimes need Greek, Latin supplements and extensions, Bengali and Sanskrit. I may be wrong in this, but I am using ADE's “missing characters” to guide me in what I need to embed (ADE supports a subset of the characters I use).

Maybe Jutoh is the weak link all in this … DrawPlus and PagePlus are pretty much the same price and I suppose both of them would take me to PDF production with full typographical control. I actually start with old PDFs for much of what I do and I really don't much like them on my tablet, I prefer epubs for their scalability. I do know they are very limited in typographical abilities though.