@SagirAhmed98 Here’s the Sinhala with conjunct forms and better handling of the rēpaya (reph).

@SagirAhmed98 Here’s the Malayalam with more traditional features. Note the final chillu form, which would be normal.

Tiro Kannada v2.00 in progress: now with improvements to arbitrary stack handling and new script extension inclusions.

@Konkanist We use this traditional form in our fonts, but if a user wants to force a half form rendering then we contextually substitute the variant form of –tra that connects more aesthetically and doesn’t look disjointed. Think like a scribe, not like a typewriter.

@a_srinidhi @Konkanist This variant form with the horizontal bar will be included in the next Tiro Devanagari updates.
github.com/TiroTypeworks/…

Marwari ḍa is an outlier in the Devanagari script, having its stem connection to the head stroke on the left rather than on the right or centered.

Wondering if the positioning in the second row might be appropriate, and if anyone has examples to support either positioning?

Just finished reading _Chinese Characters Across Asia_ by @ZevHandel. It’s the clearest introduction I have read about how the Chinese writing system works—dispelling common, long-held misunderstandings—, and how the script was adapted to Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Zhuang.

The Cambria text fonts now support four scripts: the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic of the original release, and a new Armenian design by Ruben Tarumian.

Licenses now available for webfont use and app embedding:
tiro.com/fonts/cambria#…

New promo specimen images of Cambria and Cambria Math created by @Paul_Hanslow. See these and others at
tiro.com/fonts/cambria

Laconia Cherokee is a companion to the Laconia typeface family, designed by Ross Mills, with assistance from Anna Štepanovská and Paul Hanslow. Laconia supports a wider range of Latin script languages.
tiro.com/fonts/laconia

In support of Indigenous language use, Laconia Cherokee is available for license under our pay-what-you-want model. You decide the price.
tiro.com/fonts/laconia-…

New Laconia Cherokee specimen images, by @Paul_Hanslow. See these and more at
tiro.com/fonts/laconia-…

@TypeTogether This ‍تم‍ sequence made my day. Just lovely.

@avzaagzonunaada That’s not a very lovely example, but helps make the case for the importance of well-made fonts for such orthographies, with well-proportioned diacritics and modifiers, and careful kerning.

Check out these and other Tiro Typeworks fonts on our website, and be sure to look for the specimen PDF link at the bottom of each font page for more samples.
[Below: Gabriola, by John Hudson.]
tiro.com/fonts

New releases include Skeena and Skeena Display, designed by John Hudson and @Paul_Hanslow for Microsoft Office, and now extended to pan-European Latin character coverage.
tiro.com/fonts/skeena
tiro.com/fonts/skeena-d…

In addition to tyefaces created by John Hudson, Ross Mills, and @Paul_Hanslow , we’re proud to be the licensing source for Matthew Carter’s Sitka family of optical size fonts (available as 36 individual fonts, or as two OpenType variable fonts).
tiro.com/fonts/sitka

Microsoft fonts available from Tiro Typeworks include older designs like Gabriola, Cambria, and Constantia, as well as the latter’s brand new companion type: Constantia Display.
tiro.com/fonts/constant…

@EmmanuelIfergan @iwsfutcmd My mind went straight there also. Strong Thompson and Thomson vibe.

@EvaSilvertant The sign used for the 10 is reminiscent of the Byzantine indiction symbol, which sort of makes sense in terms of time keeping.

@Konkanist We know that Carey had a Devanagari typeface that used the traditional for you show, because he used that type for his Sanskrit grammar.

Maybe this ‘Mahratta’ typeface is where the closed ख originates? The typeface has a few other oddities.

This example of the closed form of ख is from 1805 (from Carey’s _A grammar of the Mahratta language_), which is earlier than I expected, since I mostly think of this as a modern, non-traditional form. Notably, it is different from the form used in Carey’s Sanskrit grammar. /1

@iwsfutcmd I used a hundred years of Kazakh alphabets as a case study for the upcoming Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Typography.

bloomsbury.com/bloomsbury-han…

@GranshanConf ice cream headaches make me cough
ईकए करएअम हएअडअकहएस मअकए मए कओउगह
īkae karaeama haeaḍaakahaesa maakae mae kaougaha

aɪs kriːm ˈhɛdeɪks meɪk miː kɒf
इस क्रीम हेडेक्स मेक मी कॉफ़

@ss141309 @Concannicist @SagirAhmed98 Yes, that jogged my memory. The ss04 variants in the font are a set of Nepali numeral forms.

Currently investigating a possible bug in the numeral coding in the Hindi fonts. The Sanskrit fonts are behaving as intended:

@SagirAhmed98 @Concannicist For this reason, I designed it with a small break in the headstroke:

I particularly like how the strong consistency in the stroke angle lends itself to integration with graphic elements and layout.

Following a link from @moyogo led me to this proposal from 1911 to replace all the writing systems of India with a new ‘Imperial Script’. The accompanying article now seems almost quaint in its assertions and rhetorical devices.

archive.org/details/in.ern…

Skeena Indigenous v0.91 public beta update. Includes additional diacritics for more languages, bug fixes, and a complete revision of the handling of U+0315 (comma above right).

[Documentation not yet updated to reflect changes.]

github.com/microsoft/Skee…

@katydid2fury @I_W_M Here is a link to a great day-by-day visualisation of the Western Front. The long stalemate suddenly ends with the initial tactical success of the Ludendorf Offenses in April 1918, but the Allied counterattack at 2nd Marne siezes the momentum.

youtu.be/OTitulpg9UA?si…

@DrHelenFry My father was in the British Army signal corp in India and Burma. He fought at Imphal, and was among the last reinforcements thrown into Kohima before Japanese forces completed their encirclement. He was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel during the siege.

@nassaujuan I strongly recommend you read up on the bonkers Victorian sci-fi origins of Bovril. Also, never forget that it is ‘50 times more nourishing than ordinary extract of meat’. Ordinary extract?

Skeena Indigenous was designed with @Paul_Hanslow, based on our earlier work from 2018 and later Calibri-replacement candidate. The design was thoroughly reviewed and revised to give priority to the needs of indigenous languages.

Along with the fonts, source, and build tools, the repo provides extensive documentation about the decision making in the type design and font making, including discussion of unique features of indigenous language texts and how these are addressed.
microsoft.github.io/Skeena-Indigen…

@avzaagzonunaada Sneak preview of something coming tomorrow:

@kikoscript It would be instructive to make a video of handwriting in progress, so it is possible to see the pen movements.

This shape stands out as having a more less cursive ductus than the others, requiring two lifts of the pen, yes?

@NewForestRamble SOE memorial, overlooking the Thames on the Albert Embankment, in front of Lambeth Palace, London.

Bronze sculpture of Violette Szabo by Karen Newman.

britainexpress.com/London/SOE-Mem…

These mechanisms enable support of traditional Sinhala language literature, as well as Sanskrit and Pāli texts.

Following the Unicode Standard, the default encoding and display conforms to the modern, simplified orthography, but Tiro Sinhala supports a large number of traditional mechanisms enabling aribitrary conjunct forms (as well as contextual overrides).

Tiro Sinhala is inspired by 19th Century handwritten and engraved lettering reflecting the transition from Sri Lankan palm leaf manuscripts to writing with European pens.

Designed by John Hudson & Fiona Ross, with italic development by @TandemType.

NEW RELEASE

Tiro Sinhala: supporting modern and traditional Sinhala orthographies (via Unicode formatting mechanisms).

tiro.com/fonts/tiro-sin…

In addition to Malayalam language text in traditional and reformed orthographies, Tiro Malayalam supports Sanskrit and Pāli text, with careful consideration given to repha and ligature forms for these languages.

Tiro Malayalam is inspired by the proportions and features of 19th Century metal types, including a slight slanting of vertical strokes that enliven text.

Designed by John Hudson & Fiona Ross, with italic development by @TandemType.

NEW RELEASE

Tiro Malayalam: two sets of Malayalam fonts supporting, respectively, traditional and reformed orthographies.

tiro.com/fonts/tiro-mal…

@kikoscript I guess you can’t have a semicolon form that derives from the Kikọ period and comma because you’re already using that form for the vowel sandhi sign?

@kikoscript The sample text contains what appears to be a semicolon, but this is not listed among the punctuation set, and the comma part does not follow the form of the Kikọ comma. Is this intentional?

Preparing my presentation for Face/Interface @siliconstanford next week, and keeping with my practice of using my title slide to showcase typefaces by other designers and foundries. Here, Pexico Micro Round by Ondrej Jób @setuptype (paired with our Laconia type).

In addition to commercially licensable fonts, the new site also provides a convenient one-stop source for our projects released under the free Open Font License, including the STIX Two family (with lovely illustrations by Marisol Ortega).

tiro.com/fonts/stix-two

We’re also very pleased to announce the new Laconia Cherokee typefaces, initiated by Ross and completed by @Paul_Hanslow. This is the first release under our pay-what-you-want model to support indigenous language typography.

tiro.com/fonts/laconia-…

Ross Mills’ Euphemia typeface has been refreshed and extended, with refinements to Latin and Canadian Syllabics glyphs and spacing, and the addition of new weights. Now also available as weight axis variable fonts.

tiro.com/fonts/euphemia