[sword-devel] Please vote for Sun to fix a Java bug

[DM Smith]

Troy,
	We give the user the ability to select a font for displaying  
modules. We do need to allow per module preferences, including font.  
But that is not the problem here. The problem is that menus, buttons,  
dialogs and so forth all use a "system" font, named Lucida xxx. This  
is a built in font.

	From what I understand of the problem, Farsi uses an Arabic script  
with a few additions. The fundamental problem is that some glyphs are  
missing and a few others don't connect to their neighbors properly.  
The missing glyphs are akin to having 'I' be missing.

	I agree that it is not reasonable to expect that every language is  
supported, but Sun is responsive to voting. And the work is not that  
big an undertaking. They just need a bit of prodding.

	To solve it in the application is messy, but unless Sun fixes the  
font, we might not have a choice.

	Interestingly, the font is correct on MacOSX.

	The problem with Hebrew is a bit different. If UTF-8 characters are  
fully composed (letter and points combined into a single UTF-8 char)  
then it is likely that the character is missing. But if the points  
are following the letter, the composition of that character looks  
bad. This is futher compounded by the ascenders and descenders being  
clipped or drawn outside of the line of text. But having worked on  
FlashCards, I know you know all this.

	Farsi is different because it does not combine characters with  
accents to form a glyph (i.e. no accents) And it is all rendered  
within the text line. And it is different in that it joins adjacent  
letters in specific ways.

Thanks,
	DM

On Dec 13, 2006, at 11:37 PM, Troy A. Griffitts wrote:

> DM, I've found java doesn't render Hebrew well at all either.  I
> wouldn't expect them to ship a font that renders perfect in all
> languages.  That alone would be a huge undertaking.  Have you  
> considered
> giving the user the option to select a font to use with a module?
>
> 	-Troy.
>
>
> DM Smith wrote:
>> If you are not aware, Peter von Kaehne and some members of the
>> Glasgow Iranian Church are working on translating BibleDesktop into
>> Farsi (also known as Persian). This is a common language of Iran.
>>
>> Several things are coming together:
>> 1) Bible Desktop is being translated into Farsi.
>> 2) Farsi Bibles are being turned into Sword Modules. Check the beta
>> module at:
>> 	http://www.crosswire.org/sword/modules/ModDisp.jsp?
>> beta=true&tester=true&modType=Bibles
>> 3) Bible Desktop can be run from a CD or USB drive without installing
>> Java on the host computer.
>>
>> Together this provides an excellent opportunity to help the Farsi
>> speaking churches in their evangelistic outreach.
>>
>> But there is a problem and you can help. And you don't need to be a
>> programmer.
>>
>> This language uses a right to left script and Java's Lucida font is
>> incomplete in it's support of Farsi. There is an open bug report for
>> it. If you register at Sun you can vote that this be fixed. It is
>> really suprising that the Sun folk won't take the time to fix a few
>> entries in the font, but they respond to "votes".
>>
>> In the top 25 bugs the 25-th bug has 37 votes. Perhaps we can get a
>> hundred or so.
>>
>> Here is the link to the bug report:
>> http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4646993
>>
>> Here is a link to register to vote:
>> https://softwarereg.sun.com/registration/developer/en_US/new_user
>>
>> In His Service,
>> 	DM Smith
>>
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