[XeTeX] Unicode editor on Mac (for indian languages like devanagari, kannada etc)

[alessandro graheli]

Along with other colleagues Sanskritists, I am using XeTeX in TexShop  
with Devanagari MT without major problems, just had some minor issues  
of display of source code. But I find that having Devanagari MT as  
the only available AAT font is a serious limitation. In fact I have  
not heard of any other Unicode Devanagari font based on AAT features,  
nor I found a font editor capable of effectively convert or create  
AAT features, save for FontForge, which however, as far as I can  
recollect, did not permit a thorough job with Devanagari fonts.

Furthermore I do not see how it is possible to convert a Devanagari  
MT text into another OpenType Devanagari font, say Sanskrit 2000:  
most or all ligatures will be screwed. This, I conjecture, is not  
only related to AAT features and the ATSUI engine, but mainly to the  
fact that the Unicode standard is limited to root Indic characters,  
leaving to the font designer freedom for the encoding of hundreds of  
possible Indic scripts ligatures.

Am I perhaps misunderstanding or missing something? Are there  
declarations in XeTeX and/or suitable OpenType Devanagari fonts which  
allow the correct output of a text input with Devanagari MT in OSX?

Alessandro Graheli


Il giorno 30/lug/09, alle ore 19:30, Yves Codet ha scritto:


Sorry, I forgot this: it is the same for other Indian languages. Use  
whatever font you like with XeTeX (it can deal with both AAT and OT  
fonts), but use an AAT font in your text editor.

Yves