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rosettatype / hyperglot

Hyperglot: a database and tools for detecting language support in fonts
http://hyperglot.rosettatype.com
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Add notes about which Eng shape are preferred in Sami vs African languages #105

Closed kontur closed 1 year ago

kontur commented 1 year ago

Verify and add as design_requirements or notes, as per discussion in https://typedrawers.com/discussion/4657/language-specific-considerations-best-practices:

About the capital Eng Eng (1) is used in several African languages. There are two regional variants, (3) and (4). AFAIK, they are not tied to languages but to geography. So, you can't use OpenType features to set an automatic substitution for these variants. The best one can do is to offer (3) and (4) as alternates. The number of fonts that do this is near zero —I only see this in my own projects and in SIL fonts. There is also the (2) form, used in four of the five Sámi languages. In all fonts I know, the standard is to use the Sámi variation as the default, what is clearly a historical remainig and Eurocentric approach. The number of languages and users for the African forms is huge and its adoption is much more common. I strongly advocate the use of form (1) as the new default, letting the form (2) as an automatic substitution with OpenType when Sámi is used. And the inclusion of forms (3) and (4) if the font aims to properly support languages beyond Europe.