⋮What⋮ ⋮is⋮ ⋮a⋮ ⋮Type⋮set⋮ting⋮-⋮Stack⋮?

Published at November 20, 2021 ·  7 min read

The other day I had reason to think about what actually comprises a typesetting stack. Typesetting allows the documents you compiled to be read on a output medium. For this post I’ll focus on screen-output. Other have tried to give a systematic overview of what typesetting is. Nevertheless, I’ll jot down my own attempt, focussing on UAX, i.e. the Unicode recommendations and algorithms for various aspects of text segmentation. A Walk through the Layout Process It’s clear that the rules of various Unicode annexes play an important role during typsetting....

⋮Text⋮ ⋮vs⋮ ⋮Strings⋮

Published at January 16, 2021 ·  8 min read

In the unlikely event of a software developer and a typographer attending the same party and—even more unlikely—enganging in some small talk, they certainly are prone to a fundamental disagreement: What is the nature of text? As an IT guy with a heavy interest in typography, I even find me in disagreement with myself, clearly an unhealthy state of mind. As a typographer I may think about beautiful books, fine typecases or craftsmanship in layout, as a bibliophile I may think about inspired literature or enlightened non-fiction, but as a programmer I mainly think of the hassle with UTF-8, emojis, limitations of string libaries and so on....