by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2010/03/27 07:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2010/03/27/9982491.aspx
In response to This is not yet my take on DirectWrite, Ravi Chhabra asked (in a comment):
Hi Michael,
I note that you interest lies in:
"what's missing -- what scripts, what languages, what scenarios"
In that light I wanted to know if you could shed some lights on why Myanmar Font is mentioned as system supported in the DirectWrite documentation, while in fact it's not there in the system? Thanks.
and in the Suggestion Box:
There is a slide by Anantha Kancherla:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/E/6/5E66B27B-988B-4F50-AF3A-C2FF1E62180F/GRA-T515_WH08.pptx
On slide number 44 it list the scripts supported by DirectWrite, which clearly includes Myanmar. But on slide 45 it shows all the supported scripts in their native names such as देवनागरी etc. Myanmar is missing on this slide though, and most of the text seemed to be rendered with Segoe (Body). Could you shed some lights on how DirectWrite supports Myanmar Script, and yet is not included in Windows 7?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd371554%28VS.85%29.aspx
The MSDN also list Myanmar as available as a system font. Thanks.
Ravi.
Well, the ability to support scripts defined in OpenType can exist even in the absence of fonts on the system, of course. :-)
Though I suspect (without proof or genuine knowledge) that there was originally a plan to have a font there, a plan which ended up not working out for whatever reason, but no one was going to take out shaping engines or code to support the script.
If that's true, then anyone who has a font can see the script.
I have a few fonts on this machine that support it, but they were added later; they didn't come with Windows 7.
Now one thing that should have happened, and maybe someone could edit now, would be to take that entry for Myanmar on the Introducing DirectWrite page and add the asterisk meaning
"For scripts marked with an *, there are no default system fonts. Applications must install fonts that support these scripts."
There are all kinds of reasons US companies have to be careful about support for Myanmar -- political and legal and geopolitical reasons. So avoiding these kinds of slips in docs would be in everyone's best interests as specs and requirements and shipping features change....