I am working on a project that will hopefully be incorporated into Unicode as Plane 3: Movement Writing Plane. This will represent the International Movement Writing Alphabet. The IMWA is used to write the world's signed langauges.
I have over 25 thousand images in gif or png format. Each image has a name format of xx-xx-xxx-xx-xx-xx.
I plan on creating a conversion routine from the name format to Unicode address for plane 3. I think that some type of keyboard macro software would help enourmously. I will create a TTF file from the image files.
Before I start, are there any special considerations that I need to think about? This will be a proof of concept project. I hope it will also make using the alphabet easier for programmers today, rather than waiting for official acceptance.
Question: Fonts for Unicode plane 3
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Dick Pape
- Top Typographer
- Posts: 1360
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:19 pm
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Hello Oculog...
I thought I'd wait for some one else with big font experience to respond. I know 200 glyph latin fonts and a little bit of Unicode, but not fonts with 25,000 characters. Talk to our Asian scholars.
1. I had more questions than answers. I don't understand how you would use this font. I understand braille for sightless readers, but not symbols for deaf readers. Would you create a story composed of images? Since you are using a keyboard and printing device why wouldn't you just use the words directly?
What are the benefits of typing this language? Does it produce a training document? Would it facilitate translations from one native language (English) to another (Danish)? What programs are being developed today with/for this alphabet?
2. Proof of concept allows you to focus on 100 examples -- good idea!
3. Reading about the IMWA, the name format xx-xx-xxx-xx-xx-xx appears to be only an organized string of numbers to arrive at the character. For a rather font example, Panose is an implementation of a 10-position numeric descriptor, but you need a table of names to understand what the digits represent. Gotta have both names and numbers.
4. Unicode is defined with a code and a descriptive name. I am guessing you are required to have the descriptive name.
The Unicode name has a lot of structure to it. For example, Unicode 0390 is described as GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA AND TONOS. This name is composed of Greek, Small Letter, Iota, (With) Dialytika, (With) Tonos. And so on; Unicode 03AF is GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS and Unicode 03CA is GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA. (They are not next to one another).
I think you can't have your xx-xx-xxx..., a descriptive name and a Unicode code. The xx-xx-xxx... goes away. But I guess you could have structured descriptive name as "Greek-Small Letter-Iota-With Dialytika-With Tonos" (or whatever your choices are).
I hope my meaning is clear: drop the numbers and use the words. Unicode does it that way.
So your focus then is to standardize the naming structure. (For instance, having "With" at the appropriate places in every name, making every name unique and so on).
Unicode is very structured and organized. "Greek" is always as the first word. "Capital Letter" is in the second position, the third group has the letter "Iota", "With" may be in the fourth group and the "Tonos" is a Diacritical adjunct.
6. To equate your glyphs to a Unicode value, I would suggest just assign them serially. Sort them by Name once, but then assign Glyph 1 to Unicode 1, G2=U2, etc. No brain needed. If new glyphs come later, add them to the end of the file. Over time there would be deletions creating holes in the scheme anyway.
You would probably never look up a glyph based on its Unicode value and expect it to be next to a related glyph (see my Iota example). You should be able to look up a glyph based on its Unicode name however. The Unicode name better be unique and understandable -- no Panose 2-11-6-4-2-2-2-2-2-4 representing Arial font.
Wish I knew more about your problem to see which of my thoughts are relevant!
DP
I thought I'd wait for some one else with big font experience to respond. I know 200 glyph latin fonts and a little bit of Unicode, but not fonts with 25,000 characters. Talk to our Asian scholars.
1. I had more questions than answers. I don't understand how you would use this font. I understand braille for sightless readers, but not symbols for deaf readers. Would you create a story composed of images? Since you are using a keyboard and printing device why wouldn't you just use the words directly?
What are the benefits of typing this language? Does it produce a training document? Would it facilitate translations from one native language (English) to another (Danish)? What programs are being developed today with/for this alphabet?
2. Proof of concept allows you to focus on 100 examples -- good idea!
3. Reading about the IMWA, the name format xx-xx-xxx-xx-xx-xx appears to be only an organized string of numbers to arrive at the character. For a rather font example, Panose is an implementation of a 10-position numeric descriptor, but you need a table of names to understand what the digits represent. Gotta have both names and numbers.
4. Unicode is defined with a code and a descriptive name. I am guessing you are required to have the descriptive name.
The Unicode name has a lot of structure to it. For example, Unicode 0390 is described as GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA AND TONOS. This name is composed of Greek, Small Letter, Iota, (With) Dialytika, (With) Tonos. And so on; Unicode 03AF is GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS and Unicode 03CA is GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA. (They are not next to one another).
I think you can't have your xx-xx-xxx..., a descriptive name and a Unicode code. The xx-xx-xxx... goes away. But I guess you could have structured descriptive name as "Greek-Small Letter-Iota-With Dialytika-With Tonos" (or whatever your choices are).
I hope my meaning is clear: drop the numbers and use the words. Unicode does it that way.
So your focus then is to standardize the naming structure. (For instance, having "With" at the appropriate places in every name, making every name unique and so on).
Unicode is very structured and organized. "Greek" is always as the first word. "Capital Letter" is in the second position, the third group has the letter "Iota", "With" may be in the fourth group and the "Tonos" is a Diacritical adjunct.
6. To equate your glyphs to a Unicode value, I would suggest just assign them serially. Sort them by Name once, but then assign Glyph 1 to Unicode 1, G2=U2, etc. No brain needed. If new glyphs come later, add them to the end of the file. Over time there would be deletions creating holes in the scheme anyway.
You would probably never look up a glyph based on its Unicode value and expect it to be next to a related glyph (see my Iota example). You should be able to look up a glyph based on its Unicode name however. The Unicode name better be unique and understandable -- no Panose 2-11-6-4-2-2-2-2-2-4 representing Arial font.
Wish I knew more about your problem to see which of my thoughts are relevant!
DP