From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eric Abrahamsen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: fontsets/charsets documentation suggestion Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 23:19:51 -0700 Message-ID: <2349B30D-81A8-4018-A484-80EA84FB6498@gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v935.3) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1246559703 9612 80.91.229.12 (2 Jul 2009 18:35:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 18:35:03 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jul 02 20:34:56 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MMR7V-0005vG-Ou for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:34:54 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:49882 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MMR7V-00054R-0t for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:34:53 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MMFeR-0008C4-T9 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:20:07 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MMFeM-00086e-AT for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:20:06 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=57619 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MMFeM-00086F-38 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:20:02 -0400 Original-Received: from mail-px0-f200.google.com ([209.85.216.200]:60613) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1MMFeL-0002Kn-MY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:20:01 -0400 Original-Received: by pxi38 with SMTP id 38so420193pxi.14 for ; Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:20:00 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:subject:date :x-mailer; bh=2UfCMdm53lM9Jzw2SJ8KQKBYG9AXhqHZ7b+2Oi4zHYw=; b=M0Qc7mSElp1eE+GFzTnBgdyhA0Df+lG4GYB+GY9l1juI/sa3MGLC2DrMzB1PuZrVFZ /V6prrbX6qAJFx0aGbyIDzM918xS5MCLdOjTVOl9nDS+h8pqIbGBFTAt971pLu29oMky LZZr1tKVKTT4OZGpaHraO7Hr1mNqegf4AKAMo= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :mime-version:subject:date:x-mailer; b=SBMxznv6bCYaXqjAKq2A5nObL2yuGgMY3JQJfAoPEItOaTKClVqoH2s8Ii546TW4ad PbiOSMpaxLmg1VYG4O+tlWES1pq6MnJu2gkM9m8renAyPyQRGY9u1cVj/D2kBGBlhgh9 FwENaVUvYKm8Dj8uY+1WrE81sTXcN7Q+2fcOw= Original-Received: by 10.140.226.14 with SMTP id y14mr3984542rvg.200.1246515600281; Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:20:00 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: from ?192.168.0.8? ([63.226.249.211]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id g22sm8912677rvb.15.2009.07.01.23.19.57 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:19:59 -0700 (PDT) X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.935.3) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 2) X-Mailman-Approved-At: Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:34:48 -0400 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:111919 Archived-At: Hi, Pursuant to this [1] thread on the carbon Emacs mailing list, I'm =20 writing in with a small request regarding the documentation for =20 fontsets in Emacs 23. I know that fonts, fontsets and charsets are one =20= of the more complicated aspects of Emacs, but I think for this exact =20 reason the documentation for fontsets and charsets should be beefed =20 up. Everything in the current docs is correct, but it is such a =20 complicated issue that I think a more basic, ramped-up (almost =20 tutorial-style) approach would be very helpful, particularly for =20 readers unfamiliar with the issue to begin with. In detail: 1. Clearer separation of Linux, Windows and Mac font issues =96 they =20 seem to be very different. 2. A glossary. What is a charset, what is a font registry, what is a =20 script name symbol, what is encoding and how are these things related? =20= A ground-up explanation of the ecology of bytes, encodings, charsets =20 and fonts would be great. Even, dare I say it, a diagram. This stuff =20 is very confusing. 3. What are the relevant functions and variables? As a non-expert user =20= of middling programming ability, I was totally baffled by set-fontset-=20= font and all the possible permutations of its arguments. Likewise for =20= create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. Since those two functions seem to be =20= the weapons of choice for font manipulation, their descriptions could =20= stand to be about four times as long as they are, with LOTS more =20 examples. And when you're trying to get your fontsets right =20 (particularly with multiple languages), you need to see lists of =20 possible charsets and registries. These lists are in variables like =20 charset-list and charset-script-alist which *aren't mentioned in the =20 docs*. 4. I think describe-char is the main tool people use for examining =20 characters. If that's the case, it would be nice to have clearer =20 correspondences between the information that describe-char produces, =20 and the information that set-fontset-font et al consumes. For =20 instance, describe-char now seems to report all characters as either =20 ascii or unicode-bmp -- this is less helpful when you're trying to =20 target a font to latin or han, for instance. That was it. Emacs 23 is enormously better at handling multilingual =20 environments, but it would be even easier with more in-depth =20 documentation! Thanks, Eric [1] = http://groups.google.com/group/carbon-emacs/browse_thread/thread/a919ee739= fe7c9fd=