[Localization] Fwd: Last resort font

[Edward Cherlin]

FYI.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Subject: Re: Last resort font
To: Ed Trager <ed.trager at gmail.com>
Cc: Unicode Mailing List <unicode at unicode.org>


On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Ed Trager <ed.trager at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, Everyone,
>
> This might be a good time to note that SIL provides a Unicode
> "fallback" font under the Open Font License which displays the Unicode
> value in hexadecimal:
>
>       http://scripts.sil.org/UnicodeBMPFallbackFont
>
> The SIL fallback font can be quite useful for debugging purposes.

s/useful/essential/

I am attempting to advise One Laptop Per Child on character handling
issues (keyboard layouts, fonts, etc.) and some localization issues.
Being able to give the hex values for broken displays saves all of us
a lot of time.

I say "attempting to advise" because management is unclear on the
concept, in spite of the mission component of supporting every modern
writing system and any language community that wants in. For example,
they proposed to ship GiveOneGetOne computers to Europe with US
International on the keytops. Some of the French volunteers are trying
to explain the public reaction that this will produce, but management
still doesn't get it. It's like, why is that a problem? The AZERTY
layout is there in the file. And then they wonder why OLPC is
sometimes accused of cultural imperialism and not listening to the
community.

> - Ed Trager
>
> On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Don Osborn <dzo at bisharat.net> wrote:
>> This is interesting, but at first I thought "last resort" meant that this was a font that covered a selection of characters that are under-represented among the most widely available and commonly used fonts (however that would be determined!).
>>
>> If I understand correctly, what it actually seems to be is a way of having something more informative than an empty box or question mark when a character in a text is not included on any font installed on the user's computer. It somehow determines the appropriate character block in which the missing character is encoded and returns the symbol for that block.
>>
>> If that is correct, it might help to introduce the concept at the top in this way. It also means that the first advantage - "Operating systems are freed from the overhead of providing a full Unicode font" - is not entirely accurate. You would still need to find and load an appropriate font for the missing characters (for the script[s] involved or even a full Unicode font if it comes to that), but the LRF lets you know what character block(s) needs to be covered.
>>
>> Don Osborn
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>



--
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay



-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay