[XeTeX] : Re: wrong uccode of ß

[Ulrike Fischer]

Am Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:26:21 +0200 schrieb Adam Twardoch:

> A problem with digraph glyphs is e.g. that if you letterspace the text 
> (which is often the case when you set all-uppercase text), the digraphs 
> would typically stick together, so ou get something like:
> 
> S C H L I E SS E N
> 
> While it might be orthographically desirable, it simply does not work 
> visually.

I don't know. I find it shows quite good the difference between "two
separate S" and "two S that mean a capital ß". 

But if someone doesn't like it he could always use the unpure solution
and exchange the "capital ß" SS by S S. 

This problem is easier to handle than the current situation with xetex,
where you can't get a SCHLIESSEN in a pdf which is found as "schließen"
unless you switch to T1-encoding. And where you can't get an SCHLIESSEN
with \MakeUppercase, even if you accept that it is found as
"schliessen".



> I, for my part, consider the current German orthography imperfect in 
> that regard. 

All orthography is imperfect. 

> Since 1996, the lowercase letter ß is simply a single 
> letter (e.g. because the rule of doubling consonants after a short vowel 
> has been clarified). 

The rules for the ß have not been clarified, they have changed. Which is
quite good regarding to our discussion. Imagine we would have to decide
(and implement) if a search for "müs" should find "müßte" ;-).

-- 
Ulrike Fischer