Monday, March 21, 2011

The drama that is #Unicode support for the #Myanmar script

Unicode is a standard that defines the characters of a script and their behaviour. As it is a standard, implementing a font for a script and calling it Unicode means that the specifications have to be followed exactly.

I have written in the past about Zawgyi; it abuses Unicode by not having the characters in the designated places. This time it is the Ayar Unicode Group that is the focus of attention. The Ayar system gets the characters in the right place but there are questions about the placement of characters that  form the syllables. With 12% of them in the wrong order, this affects around 70% of the words in Myanmar.

With Myanmar people fighting over the "correct" implementation of Unicode it makes sense when the claims and counter claims are assessed by someone who can be accepted as an expert. It makes sense to do so and do it publicly because this ongoing madness has to stop.
Thanks,
      GerardM

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