[XeTeX] Re: Hebrew vowels in XeteX

[rvoogdgeert at kabelfoon.nl]

Op 26-11-2004 06:39, schreef jij:

> I have hesitated a while before posting the following question,
> because I'm a novice at LateX and XeteX and don't want to waste
> anyone's time.  I have been enjoying
> XeteX immensely but experiencing problems with the placement
> of vowels in Hebrew when I use fonts other that Lucida Grande, even
when
> I use the \beginR and \endR tags (not needed with Lucida G.).
> 
> I would like to use NewJerusalemU which I have purchased
> from Linguist's Software, and use it with XeteX as well as with
> Mellel which presently supports open type fonts.
> When I try to set the vowels in XeteX, however, they all
> come out with a serious displacement to the left of the consonant.
> Is there a cure?  I append my test XeteX file and the pdf I got. 
Thanks
> for any help.
> --Gildas Hamel
> 
Gildas,


I suggest you strart using the Ezra SIL opentype unicode font. As far
as I know this is the only opentype font that does the right kerning
for Hebrew vowel-signs. I'm an Old Testament scholar/ semitist, and
tried quite a few fonts with XeTeX (and other editors like Text edit),
none of which worked completely well. Lucida Grande is one of the few
fonts that contains the complete set of signs including a block of
cantilation marks. But unfortunately, the kerning is not ok. This
happens in Text edit too, so the problem is not related to XeTeX, but
maybe to AAT or something. All features are present in Ezra SIL too, at
least in the opentype version. Mind that the font does need the
\beginR...\endR.

When typesetting unvocalized Hebrew, you might try the Raanana of New
Peninim, these fonts are part of the third MacOSX cd in the Additional
Fonts package.

Don't hesitate to ask any further questions. If you think they'd be
off-topic, use my mail address directly.


Regards,
Robert.