bugGNU troff - Bugs: bug #51302, [patch] tty-char.tmac: focus on...

 
 

bug #51302: [patch] tty-char.tmac: focus on meaning rather than graphical shape

Submitted by:  None
Submitted on:  Sat 24 Jun 2017 12:27:57 AM UTC  
 
Category: NoneSeverity: 3 - Normal
Item Group: WishlistStatus: Fixed
Privacy: PublicAssigned to: None
Open/Closed: ClosedPlanned Release: None

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Tue 22 Aug 2017 09:20:01 PM UTC, comment #3:

Commited on master.

Bertrand Garrigues <bgarrigues>
Project Administrator
Mon 24 Jul 2017 08:25:20 AM UTC, comment #2:

On groff at gnu dot org, Pedro A. López-Valencia <palopezv at gmail dot com> coomented on comment #1, item 3 (inverted punctuation marks):

"Yes, as a native Spanish speaker, I agree. Nice application of the principle of least surprise, I should add."

Ingo Schwarze <schwarze>
Sun 23 Jul 2017 06:39:48 PM UTC, comment #1:

Since there was positive feedback and no concerns raised, here is an improved and completed version of the patch.

tty-char_symbols.patch is a modified version of the original patch with exactly one change: incorporating Doug McIlroy's suggestion to print "<nabla>" for \(gr, to avoid possible confusion over the wording "gradient" when it is used in a scalar product (div) or vector product (rot).

tty-char_letters.patch addresses national language characters, using the same principle. Some notes:

1. The bulk of the patch changes the representation of Greek letters. Neither the old nor the new representation is adequate for reading Greek text. You really have to use -Tutf8 for Greek text. But the new representation makes mathematical formulae intelligible.

2. \(ss is represented as simply "ss". As a native German speaker, i can confirm that this is definitely the right thing to do, and there is no reasonable alternative.

3. The Spanish inverted exclamation and question marks are represented by the same characters in upright position. While that will probably look strange to Spanish readers, i can think of no better way, and i think everybody will understand it. The current "i" and "c" is unintelligible.

4. Icelandic Eth is represented as "Dh", Thorn as "Th". If you have a better idea, that's fine with me; i don't speak Icelandic, so i may well be wrong in this respect.

tty-char_combined.patch is a combination of both patches.

As far as i'm aware, this work is now completed.

(file #41300, file #41301, file #41302)

Ingo Schwarze <schwarze>
Sat 24 Jun 2017 12:27:57 AM UTC, original submission:

As discussed recently on <groff@gnu.org>, if you care about graphical shape, you are probably not using an ASCII output device, and if you are using an ASCII output device, than understanding what you see is probably most important.

So switch the policy in this file from "shape first" to "meaning first", even though that policy existed from the dawn of time, when the file was first created in 1991/92.

Werner Lemberg supported the general idea.

The following patch changes all those mathematical and other special characters that i regard as being particularly hard to recognize from the current rendering. The patch is mildly conservative in so far as it leaves those alone that are arguably intelligible (like ~ for logical not).

Also, i did intentionally not touch natural language letters and symbols in this patch because discussing those might in principle bring up new arguments, and this patch is already of sufficient size.

If it gets committed, i'll look at what remains to be done, try to find consensus, and likely send another patch.

Anonymous

 

(Note: upload size limit is set to 16384 kB, after insertion of the required escape characters.)

Attach File(s):
   
   
Comment:
   

Attached Files
file #41303:  tty-char_combined.patch added by schwarze (6KiB - text/x-patch - corrected version, the previous was just *_letters (sorry!))
file #41300:  tty-char_symbols.patch added by schwarze (3KiB - text/x-patch - updated patch(es), see the note above)
file #41301:  tty-char_letters.patch added by schwarze (3KiB - text/x-patch - updated patch(es), see the note above)
file #41302:  tty-char_combined.patch added by schwarze (3KiB - text/x-patch - updated patch(es), see the note above)
file #41036:  tty-char.patch added by None (3KiB - text/x-patch)

 

Depends on the following items: None found

Items that depend on this one: None found

 

Carbon-Copy List
  • -unavailable- added by bgarrigues (Posted a comment)
  • -unavailable- added by schwarze (Updated the item)
  • -unavailable- added by schwarze
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    Follow 8 latest changes.

    Date Changed By Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced By
    Tue 22 Aug 2017 09:20:01 PM UTCbgarriguesStatusNone=>Fixed
      Open/ClosedOpen=>Closed
    Sun 23 Jul 2017 06:56:38 PM UTCschwarzeAttached File-=>Added tty-char_combined.patch, #41303
    Sun 23 Jul 2017 06:39:48 PM UTCschwarzeAttached File-=>Added tty-char_symbols.patch, #41300
      Attached File-=>Added tty-char_letters.patch, #41301
      Attached File-=>Added tty-char_combined.patch, #41302
    Sat 24 Jun 2017 12:28:56 AM UTCschwarzeCarbon-Copy-=>Added -unavailable-
    Sat 24 Jun 2017 12:27:57 AM UTCNoneAttached File-=>Added tty-char.patch, #41036

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