The creation of a new Arabic typeface (funded by Google)
Shasha is an Arabic font tailored for optimum usage on screens. Created with funding from Google, the following blog is designed to document the entire process.
Category Arabic
From Unicode code points to Arabic text
In Unicode, the range (in hex) 0600 to 06FF is used for Arabic characters. Each value in the range 0600 to 06FF is referred to as a code point. In simple terms, just think of it as a number allocated…
FriBidi and HarfBuzz: bidirectional text and text-shaping
It’s been more than a week since my last post so you may be forgiven for thinking that the blog novelty has worn off, but not so 🙂 Over the last week or so I have been working on building…
Interesting papers on complex script typography
For anyone who has an interest in complex script typography, the following papers are likely to be of interest: Edward H. Trager: International Text Layout & Typography: The Big And Future Picture Elika J. Etemad: Robust Vertical Text Layout Why…
Compiling the FriBidi Unicode bidi algorithm on Windows
I’m exploring the Unicode Bidi Algorithm (UBA) and found the GNU FriBidi implementation of the UBA (in addition to Unicode’s own implementation). The Unicode implementation compiles quite easily with Visual Studio but GNU FriBidi requires MSYS and some code edits,…
Brilliant resources for learning Arabic
Just a short post to suggest a site which has some absolutely superb resources for learning Arabic. About a year ago I purchased Basic Arabic Grammar – Part A and have nothing but the greatest praise for the quality of…