Re: [OT] multilingual support in MS products (was Re: Kurdish ghayn)

At 02:49 AM 4/27/2003, Thomas Milo wrote:

> Would it be possible to make the IJ/ij available at last as a single
> character IJ/ij for Dutch users? MS Office seems to be unaware of this
> character (apart from correct shifting between upper and lower case). A
> spell check of IJstijd (correct Unicode) vs. IJstijd (improvised ASCII)
> approves of the  - erroneous! - ASCII form and does not even recognize the
> horrendous misspelling Ijstijd.
>
> The  A web search of the Dutch word IJstijd (Ice Age) indicates that the use
> of this essential character is still practically zero.

Whenever I've asked Dutch colleagues (type designers and typographers) 
about the IJ/ij characters they've always expressed amazement that these 
characters exist and most reject the need for them. 'Just use I and J' 
seems to be the usual response. Tom is the only Dutch colleague I've ever 
heard express support for the use of these characters. It is true that 
there are special rules for how the letters I and J in combination should 
be typeset in Dutch, but the same is true of lots of digraphs in German and 
other languages that are not encoded as distinct characters and will not 
be. I'm far from convinced that the IJ/ij characters are necessary or that 
their use should be encouraged.

John Hudson

Tiro Typeworks          www.tiro.com
Vancouver, BC           tiro@xxxxxxxx

As for the technique of trimming the nib,
Do not be greedy!
I will not reveal its nuances; I withhold its secrets.
                  - Ibn al-Bawwab, Ra'iyyah