[omega] Seeking for a new name for "sign"

[Yannis Haralambous]

thanks!

there is a small problem with "omega atom": we don't want this 
definition to be connected to Omega. Ideally other systems (including 
XHTML, SVG, PDF, etc.) will take up our concept and use it. So the name 
we shall use should be omega-independent

Xavier Cazin and Gábor Bella also sent my some more ideas:

typoset (a set of typographic properties)
unigram (written things as a unit)
textatom
holotype (typographical element as a whole)
typosign
facies

I like the idea about using "atom" to show that this is an atomic unit 
of text.

I did a google search on textatom: it is already used with following 
definition:

> The %CSP.TextAtom class represents a section of text within an HTML 
> document.  %CSP.TextAtom has no properties other than HTML text.

Of course this is no problem to us.

It translates quite well: in French "textatome", in German "Textatom", 
in Greek κειμενάτομο (text is "keimeno" in Greek)

"Typosign" was my own idea, but it sounds very much like a company name 
(and indeed there are quite a few companies like 
<http://www.typosign.de/>)
Also it has the disadvantage of referring to typography, and we 
wouldn't like that since our ***s can be used also with other means of 
representing text (for example speech synthesis).

"facies" sounds a lot like geology, and doesn't give the idea of 
something small and atomic.

"holotype" sounds like part of a hologram... not to mention holistics...

"unigram" sounds like some new kind of (ideo|picto|sino)graphic thing...

So for the moment the best choice, IMHO, is "textatom"

But please continue brainstorming, the most brillant idea may be just 
two neurons away !!!

thanks for your help

Yannis


Le 11 mars 05, à 20h24, Benjamin BAYART a écrit :

> Le Fri, Mar 11, 2005 at 11:08:38AM +0100, Yannis Haralambous:
>>
>> Some ideas I had (not necessarily good):
>>
>> CG sign (CG= character + glyph) or C&G sign
>> unisign
>> charglyph  (difficult to translate)
>> ...
>>
>> Could you contribute?
>
> I would search around "Omega Atom", since this is a concept which 
> covers
> a large panel of concepts, and which might still evolve. Perhaps things
> like "Omat" or, if you like them recursive, "Atom" for "ATom in OMega" 
> :-)
>
> Regards,
>
> 	Benjamin.
>
>
>
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