I've already printed out (and saved) the PDF of glyphs, and thank you big time for it! As volunteer production editor, using Adobe InDesign, of a quarterly for a non-profit organization, I often have to hunt up various non-standard letter forms, and using the character map can be a pain. I've memorized a few (for instance, I have a friend named Joëlle...) but having a quick cheat-sheet with all of them easily found the "old fashioned" way is wonderful. ("Old fashioned" because I'm 67, and although I've been using computers since the Commodore 64 I bought myself in '83, I still like to have a piece of paper to refer to for something like this!) I'm also sending the PDF to the co-editors of the quarterly, as it will be of interest to them as well.
This sort of thing can be of tremendous help to folks like us, and is much appreciated!
Unicode was a brave effort to create a single character set that included every reasonable writing system on the planet and some make-believe ones like Klingon, too. Some people are under the misconception that Unicode is simply a 16-bit code where each character takes 16 bits and therefore there are 65,536 possible characters. This is not, actually, correct. It is the single most common myth about Unicode, so if you thought that, don't feel bad. In fact, Unicode has a different way of thinking about characters, and you have to understand the Unicode way of thinking of things or nothing will make sense even if you will use instant payday loan.
Although current font formats can only contain some 65,000 glyphs, Unicode is indeed infinitely extensible, as its current tally of over 100,000 unique character I.D.s testifies. Klingon, though, is not part of it. The suggestion to include it was tabled, but the idea was shot down as trivializing the whole Unicode undertaking. That’s not to say, though, that you can’t create a Unicode-compatible Klingon font, as there are large ranges of Unicode numbers reserved for “private use.” These are more commonly used for stylistic glyph alternatives, obscure ligatures, and the like.
Klingon notwithstanding, Unicode does, however, encompass many extinct languages and writing systems used by academics and historians.
A huge thank you!
I've already printed out (and saved) the PDF of glyphs, and thank you big time for it! As volunteer production editor, using Adobe InDesign, of a quarterly for a non-profit organization, I often have to hunt up various non-standard letter forms, and using the character map can be a pain. I've memorized a few (for instance, I have a friend named Joëlle...) but having a quick cheat-sheet with all of them easily found the "old fashioned" way is wonderful. ("Old fashioned" because I'm 67, and although I've been using computers since the Commodore 64 I bought myself in '83, I still like to have a piece of paper to refer to for something like this!) I'm also sending the PDF to the co-editors of the quarterly, as it will be of interest to them as well.
This sort of thing can be of tremendous help to folks like us, and is much appreciated!
Lesley O'Neil
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Great Article!!
One of your best and most informative articles yet. Thank you, thank you!
Rod McCaskill
Mail-Graphics Print & Ad
Canoga Park, CA
Unicode
Unicode was a brave effort to create a single character set that included every reasonable writing system on the planet and some make-believe ones like Klingon, too. Some people are under the misconception that Unicode is simply a 16-bit code where each character takes 16 bits and therefore there are 65,536 possible characters. This is not, actually, correct. It is the single most common myth about Unicode, so if you thought that, don't feel bad. In fact, Unicode has a different way of thinking about characters, and you have to understand the Unicode way of thinking of things or nothing will make sense even if you will use instant payday loan.
Jim Felici replies to your comments
Although current font formats can only contain some 65,000 glyphs, Unicode is indeed infinitely extensible, as its current tally of over 100,000 unique character I.D.s testifies. Klingon, though, is not part of it. The suggestion to include it was tabled, but the idea was shot down as trivializing the whole Unicode undertaking. That’s not to say, though, that you can’t create a Unicode-compatible Klingon font, as there are large ranges of Unicode numbers reserved for “private use.” These are more commonly used for stylistic glyph alternatives, obscure ligatures, and the like.
Klingon notwithstanding, Unicode does, however, encompass many extinct languages and writing systems used by academics and historians.