OpenType font support for indic scripts

Himanshu Garg himanshu.garg at gmail.com
Thu Apr 7 04:29:22 UTC 2005


Thanks Boris,

          I am afraid being a newbie I still don't quite know what
needs to be done. However your mail has provided some starting point
and the current status. I will look at the OpenTypeViewer to start
with.
   
          I would be glad if you or anyone else on this list posted
any related developments in the future or any current pointers.

Thank You,
Himanshu.



On Apr 6, 2005 2:25 PM, Boris Gaertner <Boris.Gaertner at gmx.net> wrote:
> 
> "Himanshu Garg" <himanshu.garg at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> >        I am exploring ways to incorporate opentype fonts for indic
> > scripts. If I am correct UNICODE support is already there in squeak.
> Yes, to some extent we have Unicode support. To the best of
> my knowlegde we do not currently have support for
>   * scripts that are written from right to left
>   * scripts that require script shaping
> 
> >       Can I use the operating system support for OpenType fonts or to
> > preserve Squeak's portability all that has to be rewritten in
> > Smalltalk.
> I really do not know how to use the Windows Uniscribe machinery
> from within Squeak.
> We are also not prepared to do script shaping in Squeak. Currently
> we do not even read some OpenType tables that are needed for
> script shaping (Notably GSUB, GPOS, GDEF). I tried
> to do that but I find features and contextual substitution extremely
> difficult to understand. (The font MANGAL.TTF uses contextual
> substitution to render Devanagari script, LATHA.TTF uses contextual
> substitution for Tamil). The interpretation of features requires
> great flexibility because seemingly no two fonts use exactly the same
> features.)
> 
> For the beginning, you can install OpenTypeViewer from SqueakMap.
> (see: http://www.bgaertner.gmxhome.de/OpenTypeViewer.htm)
> This will give you
> * the possibility to look into OpenType font files
> * incomplete support to read some OpenType tables that
>    are not read by the TTF support classes of the standard image.
> 
> At this very moment I do not plan to develop subclasses of
> ParagraphEditor that will be able to make use of the GSUB
> and GPOS data of an OpenType font - its simply too
> difficult for now. For now I would be glad to understand
> contextual glyph substitution.
> 
> Two years ago I tried to implement some support for
> Devanagari, Tamil and Telugu that was based on StrikeFonts
> (the bitmapped fonts of Squeak that are permanently stored in
> the image), but that is now an unfinished and almost dead
> project (it was done in Squeak 3.6).
> >
> >       I would be grateful even if you provided some pointers. I am
> > familiar with UNICODE/OpenType/Indic scripts etc but have no idea how
> > the support should come to Squeak.
> >
> >       I look forward to your reply.
> >
> > Thank You,
> > Himanshu.
> > --
> >
> Greetings,
> Boris
> 


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