[XeTeX] [OT] character encoding ideas [was: Re: Strange hyphenation with polyglossia in French]

[Philip Taylor (Webmaster, Ret'd)]

Well, you are far better informed in these matters
than am I, Jonathan (I am simply a well-meaning
amateur) but I do not regard the number of planes
required as a major stumbling factor : I am not
for one second suggesting that a font encoded
in my suggested encoding should have separate
glyphs for distinct languages, only that the
encoding /itself/ should not conflate (say)
Vietnamese "d" with English "d" just because
they have a similar shape.

But yes, I do accept that linguistic identity
is a sensitive area, and that one should not
overlook the difficulty of achieving even
short-term consensus regarding such matters.

** Phil.