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Latin script with cursive attachment
Posted by Maarten Renckens in
24 Jan 2013 — 1:16pm
24 Jan 2013 — 1:16pm
To create a connecting script, for Latin use,
I was searching to get the 'Cursive attachment' working on a script that is written from left to right.
Any chances I get this to work in Latin text?
or any other technique to connect glyphs together with anchors?
If someone can reference to an example, it would make understanding of 'feature curs' easier
On the OpenType Feature File Specification
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/opentype/afdko/topic_feature_file_syntax.html#6.c
it is not mentioned it is only possible with right to left scripts.
But on other sources, there is stated it doesn't work with left to right, like
http://glyphsapp.com/blog/arabic
Ps, is it required to work with .init and .fina if I want to work with 'curs'?
Most times it is done so…
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24 Jan 2013 — 2:15pm
There are a few different things to consider here.
The first is the 'curs' OpenType Layout feature, which may or may not be supported for individual scripts. It is part of default layout for Arabic, as you note, but I'm not sure whether it is in any European script layout engines. When in doubt, experiment.
The second thing to consider is that 'cursive attachment' is a standard GPOS lookup type, as well as being a specific layout feature, so in theory you can associate a cursive attachment lookup with any feature you like. So, for example, you could experiment with putting cursive attachment lookups in the 'kern' feature, and see if/where that works. Risky, because some layout engines might make assumptions about lookup types, but I would consider that a layout engine bug because the OT spec explicitly states that lookup types should not be assumed.
The final thing to consider is whether you really need cursive attachment in your design. Cursive attachment is necessary when you have both vertical and horizontal offsets to joins; if you have horizontal offsets only, you can get away with kerning connections and will get more reliable support in more places. However, there is a real attraction to using cursive attachment, even for horizontal-only offsets, because -- in theory at least -- it locks the two glyphs together so that the connection will not break if somone applies tracking.