On 10/24/14, 6:44 PM, André L wrote:

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Hello Steve,
I would like to know if this font can be used in Microsoft word or pdf files.
Thanks

Hi André Lemyre,

In theory, yes. The font can be used in any application, even MS Paint. I just tried it and it worked.

In practice, there are 2 problems: alignment and data entry. For the first problem, I specially crafted the font to support my work in 2 dimensions. This has caused a few weird issues when you try to use the font with normal text in one dimension. I was going to try to address some of these issues next week, but they are not my main concern. I will fix what I can.

For the second problem, the data entry can be problematic. The easiest way is to copy and paste the symbols from somewhere else. To complicate the matter, there are 4 different character representations that can be used with the symbols. The first 3 representations require ligatures to be enabled, an advanced typography setting not enabled by default in Word. Examples of the first 3 representations include the symbol keys (6 characters per symbol), Unicode 8 (1 to 3 characters per symbol), and Unicode PUA plane 15 (3 characters per symbol).

If ligatures are supported, the easiest way to add a symbol glyph is to type the symbol key, such as "S10000". Then select the entire symbol key and change the font to "SignWriting 2010" from the font selection dropdown. This works in my email application "Thunderbird". Here's what it looks like: S10000 If you can see the symbol image, you have the font installed and ligatures are enabled.

However, ligatures can be an issue in some places, so I revisited a previous design to create a fourth representation on Unicode PUA plane 16 which uses 1 character per symbol. An example character would look like U+100001. This is what I used for MS Paint with copy and paste. Here's a character without a font set: 􀀁. Here's the character with the font set: 􀀁.

I will continue to work through these issues and hopefully come up with some easy to use and easy to understand practical applications.

On 10/24/14, 6:44 PM, André L wrote:

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I like the matrix example.

Thanks Andre, I like it too. I was very excited the first time I saw it working. I still enjoy watching it.

Regards,
-Steve

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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 17:29:28 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Take the red pill with the SignWriting 2010 font
To: [log in to unmask]

Hi list,

I had a great week with the font development. Almost everything is spot on perfect. I was able to perfect the symbol sizing function: it is small, fast, and 100% accurate. I'm very excited.

I should be finished with the main font file development next week.

I was playing around with some demonstration code that others have written. I modified their code to use the SignWriting 2010 font. All of the graphics in these demonstrations are generated on your local computer and do not require a internet connection to an image server.

You'll need the SignWriting 2010 Font installed to see the demonstrations. I put together a page that checks if the font is installed and provides the links for the fonts.
* http://codepen.io/Slevinski/pen/oxGCF

Here's the first demo with the raining hand shapes.

Full screen:
* http://codepen.io/Slevinski/full/tCcAj

Link with visible code:
* http://codepen.io/Slevinski/pen/tCcAj

It only took a few minutes to modify the code, so I found another example and modified that as well. It's a little more frantic, but it demonstrates the power of the font.

Full screen:
* http://codepen.io/Slevinski/full/ijBvo

Link with visible code:
* http://codepen.io/Slevinski/pen/ijBvo

Regards,
∼Steve

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