[XeTeX] Xenotype font and Syriac scripting

[Gareth Hughes]

Fr. Michael Gilmary wrote:
> Dear All:
> 
> Recently, through someone's generosity, we were given Xenotype fonts for
> Syriac. They will actually script on Mac OS 10.4.11 in any app, AFAIK. I
> tried them in TeXShop and they script just fine --- as opposed to the
> melthofonts which will *not* script on Mac at the input level.

I'm glad you like them. I spoke with the designer, Ka'onohi Kai,
sometime ago about them, and have tried to encourage Mac users to try them.

> Using the melthofonts before (available from bethmardutho.org ) to
> compile via XeLaTeX was inconvenient since it was hard to read
> unscripted while entering the text, but the output was fine. But with
> Xenotype, the font scripts fine in TeXShop ... but *not* in the output PDF!

It's the same here with Linux. Pango doesn't do Syriac yet, so most
applications display unjoined glyphs.
> 
> Loading the font via:
> 
>> \newfontfamily\syriacfont[Scale=1.5,Script=Syriac]{XenoTypeSYDarmasuq}
> 
> 
> I receive the warning:
> 
>> Package fontspec Warning:
>>     Font "XenoType SY Darmasuq/ICU" does not contain script 'Syriac'
> 

Isn't the Script feature an ICU-specific tag that auto-selects ICU
rendering? Don't these fonts use AAT? Try not defining the Script
feature. If the text displays properly without the feature, then that's
the problem.

Gareth.

-- 
Gareth Hughes

Department of Eastern Christianity
Oriental Institute
Pusey Lane
Oxford
OX1 2LE

+44 (0)1865 615331