[xep-support] Support of special types of spaces

[David Tolpin]

>  Why not preserve the fixed spaces that the typesetter inputs and  
> output them as such, too?

Because there are no glyphs for the spaces in modern fonts. One  
cannot insert 3/4 space as a 3/4 space; one needs to position the  
text, and the semantics of this positioning is a long and sad story.  
It is better to let the XSL producer to specify the semantics than to  
try to guess it.

> What do you mean "prepared manually"? All books printed from  
> movable metal type between the B42 and 1886,

The fact is, the font for the Mazarin Bible contained ligatures at  
character combinations at different spacings. The case also contained  
spaces of various widths, occasionally cut on need. It is only later  
that assembling variable spaces from fixed-width pieces had been  
introduced.

David
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