Libronix Complex Script Unicode Support?

Maurice Bauhahn

I've been asked to consider helping to port a number of Southeast Asian script Bibles to Libronix, but my first impressions are that this is not supported (particularly not cross platform). Hence I would very much appreciate it if some kind souls would answer some or all of the following questions:

(1) What Indic scripts encoded in Unicode are presently available in Libronix (Arabic/Hebrew/Greek/Chinese/Cyrillic are not adequate examples as they can be fudged [the first two somewhat inferiorly] without complex font mechanisms).

(2) Does Libronix support Microsoft's usp10.dll whose rules supplement those of OpenType layout tables? What is the legal status of incorporating that DLL for public download?

(3) Does Libronix on Macintosh support the  ATSUI complex font mechanism?

(4) Does Libronix support IBM's International Components for Unicode (ICU) libraries? On what platforms?

(5) How is font smoothing supported (or is that handled by bit-mapped fonts) on Microsoft Windows and MacOS 10?

(6) For those who have ported Biblical texts to Libronix...what format is needed and what customization needs to be done?

(7) Is Logos with Libronix entering the mobile devices market? What devices? Will there be complex script support there?

A "complex script" is one which may be encoded in the order ABCDEFG but may display (depending on context) with an ordering like CABDEDFG, with superscript/subscript stacking; ligatures; context sensitive glyph changes; et cetera. The scripts of India are typical examples. In general much of the intelligence needed to display complex scripts is embedded in a font (intelligent font technology) and some more may be provided external to fonts on the OS level.

Eagerly,

 

Maurice (U.K.)

Bob Pritchett

Our aim is to be 100% Unicode compatible, for all scripts.

In the 3.x platform we use Microsoft's Uniscribe technology (USP10.DLL) for Windows, and can support almost any script it does. (If IE supports it, we probably do.) On the Mac I believe we're presently using IBM's ICU.

In the future we'll be using Microsoft's WPF and ICU; WPF is better is some ways, but has some blind spots. It is being improved though, and should offer as thorough support.

The font smoothing will be provided by the OS.

I'm not sure who you're working with; at the moment the only way to get books into our system is by working with us. (PBB is a possibility, but doesn't work for Bibles.) Are you working with one of our partners?

-- Bob