<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">(If this topic confuses you, see the appended background introduction.)</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">In order to figure out the scope we care about, how about we start with maintaining a list of existing projects that are intended to complement the OT spec (and its semi-standard specs such as the USE spec)?</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">In terms of my personal concerns, one of the most important projects today is this documentation by Nate Willis, et al, which is focused on documenting how OTL should actually be implemented for each complex script, so developers can actually implement compatible shapers:</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font face="SFProText-Regular" class=""><b class="">Documentation of OpenType shaping behavior</b></font></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font face="SFProText-Regular" class=""><a href="https://github.com/n8willis/opentype-shaping-documents" class="">https://github.com/n8willis/opentype-shaping-documents</a></font></div></blockquote><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">On the other hand, my main personal interest is about clarifying how Unicode encoded complex scripts (especially the Indic ones) should be implemented with OTL fonts. (Note the difference from Nate’s project, which is about how to shape texts using these fonts.)</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">I believe we need to document a reference interface between orthographical correctness and typographical concerns. The whole process from Unicode text up to this interface can be vetted by experts (especially for compatibility and reasonable fallback behavior) and automated by tooling, while font producers are left with a straightforward glyph set to fill. This will greatly improve reliability of complex scripts’ fonts, and also remove the unreasonable obstacle that prevents native users to implement their own scripts in fonts. Some knowledge collected during this effort should even be incorporated into the Unicode Standard, if it’s relevant and the community can achieve an agreement on it.</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">The current early draft is still very sketchy, but I expect to significantly update it and transform it into a tutorial-based document (because concrete instructions will be much easier to read) in a couple of months:</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font face="SFProText-Regular" class=""><b class="">Indic text shaping for type designers</b></font></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font face="SFProText-Regular" class=""><a href="https://github.com/typotheque/text-shaping" class="">https://github.com/typotheque/text-shaping</a></font></div></blockquote><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class=""><span style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class="">Best,</span><br style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class=""><span style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class="">梁海 Liang Hai</span><br style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class=""><span style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class=""><a href="https://lianghai.github.io" class="">https://lianghai.github.io</a></span></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-family: "SF Pro Text";" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">---</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Some context for subscribers of this mailing list who didn’t participate in yesterday’s meeting:</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">There’s a collective effort to seek a clear path forward for improving the whole text shaping industry (including the font formats)’s situation. Yesterday there was the first meeting, and the next meeting (open to all) is scheduled for four weeks later (25 Aug, 13:30–14:50 UTC-4). The following document contains yesterday’s meeting notes:</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><blockquote class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span class="">Text Shaping Working Group</span> (working title)</div><div dir="auto" class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KoknOb0IMAPeiLhifvc_AqB7s3rs6VKOsTQg_oCDypQ/edit?usp=sharing" class="">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KoknOb0IMAPeiLhifvc_AqB7s3rs6VKOsTQg_oCDypQ/edit?usp=sharing</a></div></blockquote><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="" style="font-family: SFProText-Regular; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">By the end of the meeting we decided this list could be a temporary home for our discussions because of the significant overlap of interest. I hope we’re <i class="">not</i> spamming you guys.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>