[xep-support] Ligatures

Alexei Gagarinov agagarinov at renderx.com
Tue Sep 19 09:22:34 PDT 2006


Hi David,

> When I define ligatures in xep.xml, how does XEP know which ligature
> to use for which character combinations?

XEP treats the ligatures according to Unicode File Format
(http://www.unicode.org/Public/3.0-Update1/UnicodeData-3.0.1.html) . The
standard specifies the unicode character set for each "ligature".

I quoted the word 'ligature' because Unicode Standards don't define what the
ligature is.
There is a widely accepted common set of ligatures, but each specialist or
font designer has his own idea about some ligatures.
That's why fonts may have different ligature sets.

> IE., will the ligature for "fi" always be represented by the same
> unicode character?

Yes.

> What about fonts that provide special ligatures such as "swash" and
> others that provide distinct characters for use as the first letter
> of a paragraph?

If a font has this ligature you can specify it. But XEP cannot distinct the
first letter of a paragraph and others.
You need to specify the first letter of a paragraph as the Unicode character
for "swash" in XSL-FO file.

Best regards,
  Alexei Gagarinov
RenderX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Nedrow" <dnedrow at usa.net>
To: <xep-support at renderx.com>
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:22 AM
Subject: [xep-support] Ligatures


> I know this is outside of the context of XEP support, so feel free to
> point me elsewhere...
>
> When I define ligatures in xep.xml, how does XEP know which ligature
> to use for which character combinations? Are each of the ligature
> Unicode characters "standard" across fonts?
>
> IE., will the ligature for "fi" always be represented by the same
> unicode character?
>
> What about fonts that provide special ligatures such as "swash" and
> others that provide distinct characters for use as the first letter
> of a paragraph?
>
> -David
>
> -------------------
> (*) To unsubscribe, send a message with words 'unsubscribe xep-support'
> in the body of the message to majordomo at renderx.com from the address
> you are subscribed from.
> (*) By using the Service, you expressly agree to these Terms of Service
http://www.renderx.com/terms-of-service.html

-------------------
(*) To unsubscribe, send a message with words 'unsubscribe xep-support'
in the body of the message to majordomo at renderx.com from the address
you are subscribed from.
(*) By using the Service, you expressly agree to these Terms of Service http://www.renderx.com/terms-of-service.html



More information about the Xep-support mailing list