4 ms·

It seems slightly odd, given that there are different traditions of between-sentence spacing, that there doesn't seem to be a Unicode character for the kind of

by dubya 6y ago

It seems slightly odd, given that there are different traditions of between-sentence spacing, that there doesn't seem to be a Unicode character for the kind of space between sentences.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Time to give RS a new purpose in life.
ascorbic 6y ago
As with all letter spacing, the size is determined by the font metrics. There doesn't need to be a special character for it.
- thefifthsetpin 6y ago
  Even assuming the goal is to get something like the below? Mr.^Smith^turned^off^the^lights.^^Then^he^went^to^sleep.
  - chispamed 6y ago
    Not the person you asked, but I think so. Some fonts also convert “fi” into a character where the letter-spacing is very small and the i loses its point, so there’s definitely a mechanism for letter combination / adaptive spacing.
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      Are fonts Turing-complete now? I have a feeling they'll become such if not already there; a little programs, complete with configuration switches so that you can control if and how a combination of characters get converted into a ligature depending on surrounding context.
      - eperdew 6y ago
        TrueType font hinting actually is Turing complete. A font may contain programs that run on a VM that has functions, variables, unbounded loops, etc.
    - jefftk 6y ago
      Converting "fi" into "ﬁ" only requires a lookup table, though fonts can do some pretty fancy things: https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/RM06/Chap6morx.html https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/... Knowing that "Mr. Smith." is intra-sentence but "Me. Smith." is inter-sentence is well beyond what fonts can do, however.
      - dubya 6y ago
        I thought the rule was that ligatures shouldn't cross syllable boundaries. Like the fi in "fine" can be replaced but not the fi in "barfing", so it would need to be a bit more than a lookup table. Or maybe a dictionary-sized lookup table isn't a problem anymore.
        jefftk 6y ago
        I see https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50660/when-should-i-not-use-a-ligature-in-english-typesetting/50957 https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50660/when-shoul... suggesting this, but I don't believe any fonts implement this.
- gowld 6y ago
  There needs to be a character because a sentence is a grammatical concept not a lexical concept. Mr. Bean is in one sentence, not two.
yellowapple 6y ago
There are (maybe not explicitly designated as such, but en-space or em-space would be reasonable, I think). The problem is that there's no sane or consistent way to actually input these characters (besides perhaps a macro that detects double-spaces and replaces them with a single somewhat-longer-than-normal space).

by dubya 6y ago

It seems slightly odd, given that there are different traditions of between-sentence spacing, that there doesn't seem to be a Unicode character for the kind of space between sentences.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

Time to give RS a new purpose in life.

ascorbic 6y ago

As with all letter spacing, the size is determined by the font metrics. There doesn't need to be a special character for it.

thefifthsetpin 6y ago
Even assuming the goal is to get something like the below? Mr.^Smith^turned^off^the^lights.^^Then^he^went^to^sleep.
- chispamed 6y ago
  Not the person you asked, but I think so. Some fonts also convert “fi” into a character where the letter-spacing is very small and the i loses its point, so there’s definitely a mechanism for letter combination / adaptive spacing.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    Are fonts Turing-complete now? I have a feeling they'll become such if not already there; a little programs, complete with configuration switches so that you can control if and how a combination of characters get converted into a ligature depending on surrounding context.
    - eperdew 6y ago
      TrueType font hinting actually is Turing complete. A font may contain programs that run on a VM that has functions, variables, unbounded loops, etc.
  - jefftk 6y ago
    Converting "fi" into "ﬁ" only requires a lookup table, though fonts can do some pretty fancy things: https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/RM06/Chap6morx.html https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/... Knowing that "Mr. Smith." is intra-sentence but "Me. Smith." is inter-sentence is well beyond what fonts can do, however.
    - dubya 6y ago
      I thought the rule was that ligatures shouldn't cross syllable boundaries. Like the fi in "fine" can be replaced but not the fi in "barfing", so it would need to be a bit more than a lookup table. Or maybe a dictionary-sized lookup table isn't a problem anymore.
      - jefftk 6y ago
        I see https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50660/when-should-i-not-use-a-ligature-in-english-typesetting/50957 https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50660/when-shoul... suggesting this, but I don't believe any fonts implement this.
gowld 6y ago
There needs to be a character because a sentence is a grammatical concept not a lexical concept. Mr. Bean is in one sentence, not two.

yellowapple 6y ago

There are (maybe not explicitly designated as such, but en-space or em-space would be reasonable, I think). The problem is that there's no sane or consistent way to actually input these characters (besides perhaps a macro that detects double-spaces and replaces them with a single somewhat-longer-than-normal space).