Greek Fonts (variant character forms) - Revision history

DarcyKrasne: added to Typography category

2026-06-29T19:45:49Z

added to Typography category

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:45, 29 June 2026
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	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
	[[Category:fonts]]		[[Category:fonts]]
			[[category:Typography]]

GabrielBodard: dated Perry's comments

2017-05-02T15:37:34Z

dated Perry's comments

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:37, 2 May 2017
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	It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). Dumbarton Oaks has an example font, [http://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/athena-ruby-inscription-font/athena-ruby-intro Athena Ruby].		It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). Dumbarton Oaks has an example font, [http://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/athena-ruby-inscription-font/athena-ruby-intro Athena Ruby].

	David Perry writes:		David Perry writes (November 2006):

	*The version of Cardo that is available on my web page http://scholarsfonts.net (v. .98) has a very large number of Greek variant letterforms. These are located in the supplementary private use area, beginning at U+F0000, so you won't see them if you look at the font with Windows Character Map or Word's Insert/Symbol (these don't handle anything beyond the BMP). You can see them with BabelMap or look at the user's manual beginning on p. 34 for a complete list.		<blockquote><p>1. The version of Cardo that is available on my web page http://scholarsfonts.net (v. .98) has a very large number of Greek variant letterforms. These are located in the supplementary private use area, beginning at U+F0000, so you won't see them if you look at the font with Windows Character Map or Word's Insert/Symbol (these don't handle anything beyond the BMP). You can see them with BabelMap or look at the user's manual beginning on p. 34 for a complete list.</p>

	*In addition to the PUA codepoints, these variants are all accessible through the OpenType stylistic alternates feature if you have a program that supports it (Mellel and InDesign, as far as I know at the moment). It's frustrating that a mechanism exists that allows standard Unicode values for storage and alternate forms for display, but it is implemented in so few applications. That may change with the release of Windows Vista, which supports many OpenType features at the system level. Or it may not . . .		<p>2. In addition to the PUA codepoints, these variants are all accessible through the OpenType stylistic alternates feature if you have a program that supports it (Mellel and InDesign, as far as I know at the moment). It's frustrating that a mechanism exists that allows standard Unicode values for storage and alternate forms for display, but it is implemented in so few applications. That may change with the release of Windows Vista, which supports many OpenType features at the system level. Or it may not . . . </p></blockquote>

	===See also===		===See also===

	* [[:Category:fonts\|Category 'Fonts']] (resources on fonts in this wiki)		* [[:Category:fonts\|Category 'Fonts']] (resources on fonts in this wiki)


	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
	[[Category:fonts]]		[[Category:fonts]]

PaoloMonella: /* How to handle variant characters forms in Greek */

2017-02-07T16:25:32Z

How to handle variant characters forms in Greek

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:25, 7 February 2017
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	=How to handle variant characters forms in Greek=		==How to handle variant characters forms in Greek==

	There are several issues involved here.		There are several issues involved here.

PaoloMonella: /* See also */

2017-02-07T16:24:52Z

GabrielBodard: title

2015-12-04T11:55:58Z

title

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:55, 4 December 2015
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			=How to handle variant characters forms in Greek=

	There are several issues involved here.		There are several issues involved here.

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	===See also===		===See also===

	[[:Category:fonts\|font resources]]		* [[:Category:fonts\|font resources]]

	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
	[[Category:fonts]]		[[Category:fonts]]

JoelKalvesmaki: Added xref to font resources

2012-06-21T19:41:21Z

Added xref to font resources

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:41, 21 June 2012
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	*In addition to the PUA codepoints, these variants are all accessible through the OpenType stylistic alternates feature if you have a program that supports it (Mellel and InDesign, as far as I know at the moment). It's frustrating that a mechanism exists that allows standard Unicode values for storage and alternate forms for display, but it is implemented in so few applications. That may change with the release of Windows Vista, which supports many OpenType features at the system level. Or it may not . . .		*In addition to the PUA codepoints, these variants are all accessible through the OpenType stylistic alternates feature if you have a program that supports it (Mellel and InDesign, as far as I know at the moment). It's frustrating that a mechanism exists that allows standard Unicode values for storage and alternate forms for display, but it is implemented in so few applications. That may change with the release of Windows Vista, which supports many OpenType features at the system level. Or it may not . . .

			===See also===

			[[:Category:fonts\|font resources]]

	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
	[[Category:fonts]]		[[Category:fonts]]

JoelKalvesmaki: Updated Athena Ruby reference

2012-06-21T19:20:06Z

Updated Athena Ruby reference

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 21 June 2012
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	#How you should encode (e.g.) a sigma in the web page or database so that you can find 3-bar, 4-bar, lunate etc. sigmas using a single search, say for ΣΩΖ-. The answer this is emphatically that the Unicode character for sigma should be used, rather than (say), something that looks like the 3-bar sigma such as the lightning-bolt koppa at U+03DF.		#How you should encode (e.g.) a sigma in the web page or database so that you can find 3-bar, 4-bar, lunate etc. sigmas using a single search, say for ΣΩΖ-. The answer this is emphatically that the Unicode character for sigma should be used, rather than (say), something that looks like the 3-bar sigma such as the lightning-bolt koppa at U+03DF.
	#How should you display a lightning-bolt shaped character on a screen or printed page? Ideally the answer would be to use a font with variant form sigmas (see 3. below), but while waiting for this to be implemented, one might decide to use a similarly shaped character from a different codepoint '''for display only'''.		#How should you display a lightning-bolt shaped character on a screen or printed page? Ideally the answer would be to use a font with variant form sigmas (see 3. below), but while waiting for this to be implemented, one might decide to use a similarly shaped character from a different codepoint '''for display only'''.
	#How to indicate via markup that a particular sigma is 3-bar or 4-bar or lunate, vel sim., in such a way that a web browser/document printer etc can extract and deal with this information thus printing it correctly on the scree/page? It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). ~~I'm not quite clear yet on how this is going to work, although I believe~~ Dumbarton Oaks ~~are working on such a~~ font ~~for sigillographic and epigraphic puposes~~. ~~It would be good to get their feedback on this~~.		#How to indicate via markup that a particular sigma is 3-bar or 4-bar or lunate, vel sim., in such a way that a web browser/document printer etc can extract and deal with this information thus printing it correctly on the scree/page?

			It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). Dumbarton Oaks has an example font, [http://www.doaks.org/resources/publications/athena-ruby-inscription-font/athena-ruby-intro Athena Ruby].

	David Perry writes:		David Perry writes:
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	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
			[[Category:fonts]]

GabrielBodard: added comment from DPerry

2006-11-14T14:42:31Z

added comment from DPerry

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:42, 14 November 2006
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	#How should you display a lightning-bolt shaped character on a screen or printed page? Ideally the answer would be to use a font with variant form sigmas (see 3. below), but while waiting for this to be implemented, one might decide to use a similarly shaped character from a different codepoint '''for display only'''.		#How should you display a lightning-bolt shaped character on a screen or printed page? Ideally the answer would be to use a font with variant form sigmas (see 3. below), but while waiting for this to be implemented, one might decide to use a similarly shaped character from a different codepoint '''for display only'''.
	#How to indicate via markup that a particular sigma is 3-bar or 4-bar or lunate, vel sim., in such a way that a web browser/document printer etc can extract and deal with this information thus printing it correctly on the scree/page? It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). I'm not quite clear yet on how this is going to work, although I believe Dumbarton Oaks are working on such a font for sigillographic and epigraphic puposes. It would be good to get their feedback on this.		#How to indicate via markup that a particular sigma is 3-bar or 4-bar or lunate, vel sim., in such a way that a web browser/document printer etc can extract and deal with this information thus printing it correctly on the scree/page? It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). I'm not quite clear yet on how this is going to work, although I believe Dumbarton Oaks are working on such a font for sigillographic and epigraphic puposes. It would be good to get their feedback on this.

			David Perry writes:

			*The version of Cardo that is available on my web page http://scholarsfonts.net (v. .98) has a very large number of Greek variant letterforms. These are located in the supplementary private use area, beginning at U+F0000, so you won't see them if you look at the font with Windows Character Map or Word's Insert/Symbol (these don't handle anything beyond the BMP). You can see them with BabelMap or look at the user's manual beginning on p. 34 for a complete list.

			*In addition to the PUA codepoints, these variants are all accessible through the OpenType stylistic alternates feature if you have a program that supports it (Mellel and InDesign, as far as I know at the moment). It's frustrating that a mechanism exists that allows standard Unicode values for storage and alternate forms for display, but it is implemented in so few applications. That may change with the release of Windows Vista, which supports many OpenType features at the system level. Or it may not . . .


	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]

GabrielBodard at 15:20, 13 November 2006

2006-11-13T15:20:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:20, 13 November 2006
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	(to be ~~added~~)		There are several issues involved here.

			#How you should encode (e.g.) a sigma in the web page or database so that you can find 3-bar, 4-bar, lunate etc. sigmas using a single search, say for ΣΩΖ-. The answer this is emphatically that the Unicode character for sigma should be used, rather than (say), something that looks like the 3-bar sigma such as the lightning-bolt koppa at U+03DF.
			#How should you display a lightning-bolt shaped character on a screen or printed page? Ideally the answer would be to use a font with variant form sigmas (see 3. below), but while waiting for this to be implemented, one might decide to use a similarly shaped character from a different codepoint '''for display only'''.
			#How to indicate via markup that a particular sigma is 3-bar or 4-bar or lunate, vel sim., in such a way that a web browser/document printer etc can extract and deal with this information thus printing it correctly on the scree/page? It is possible to encode an OpenType font with multiple glyphs for any given character codepoint (so multiple variant sigmas, epsilons, alphas, etc.). I'm not quite clear yet on how this is going to work, although I believe Dumbarton Oaks are working on such a font for sigillographic and epigraphic puposes. It would be good to get their feedback on this.

	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]

GabrielBodard at 11:45, 13 November 2006

2006-11-13T11:45:59Z

New page

(to be added)

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Unicode]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:24, 7 February 2017
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	===See also===		===See also===

	* [[:Category:fonts\|~~font resources~~]]		* [[:Category:fonts\|Category 'Fonts']] (resources on fonts in this wiki)

	[[Category:FAQ]]		[[Category:FAQ]]
	[[Category:Unicode]]		[[Category:Unicode]]
	[[Category:fonts]]		[[Category:fonts]]