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Section 2 · Shaping

The head-line problem, and the layer built to solve it

Shaping, conjuncts and why rendering is hard.

Handwritten Devanagari manuscript page with red punctuation marks and continuous horizontal headlines — FigureManuscript Devanagari, where the head-line already runs the length of the word.Photo: Bhajuram Karmacharya’s Saptakanda Ramayana, Newar language, Devanagari script, 1818 CE · Wikimedia Commons

Everything in this section

01The head-line problem, and the layer built to solve itThe connecting bar above Devanagari means glyphs cannot simply be placed side by side, which is why a shaping engine exists at all.
02Conjuncts, and vowels that moveA matra typed after a consonant may render before it, so the visual order and the storage order are deliberately different.
03The first faces most systems shippedA small number of fonts carried Indic rendering for years, and their metrics still show up in unexpected places.

Code PointsOne code point, then thirty years StandardsTen scripts, one table ProcurementThen somebody had to write it into a purchase order

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