[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 24574] New: Language dependant font selection of Arabic-block characters

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=24574

           Summary: Language dependant font selection of Arabic-block
                    characters
           Product: WebKit
           Version: 528+ (Nightly build)
          Platform: Macintosh
        OS/Version: Mac OS X 10.5
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Text
        AssignedTo: webkit-unassigned at lists.webkit.org
        ReportedBy: contact at nickshanks.com
 BugsThisDependsOn: 10874,20797


The website http://urdunews.net/ uses EOT/WEFT to overcome the unification in
Unicode of Naskh and Nasta'liq (akin to Han unification for CJK that we're more
familiar with). It is not acceptable to present Urdu in the Naskh script used
for Standard Arabic. Since many computers don't have a Nasta'liq font
installed, this site tries to provide one via EOT.

Note however that
a) The OpenType font used by the site doesn't work on Mac OS X, so supporting
it won't help
b) It cannot be transcoded to Unicode (bug #22339), because it already is
Unicode
c) The only Nasta'liq font I know of for Mac OS 10.5 is the QuickDraw GX font
Nasta'liq Navees
    i) http://scripts.sil.org/Nastaliq_Download (Warning: causes crashes on
10.4 and below)
    ii) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastaliq_Navees (screenshot; disclaimer: I
wrote that article)

The best solution would be to ship a Nasta'liq font with the OS (perhaps Apple
could buy that one from SIL), and have ur (Urdu), ps (Pashto) and fa (Farsi)
use that font, in the same was as CJK fonts depend on language.


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