1. Name
Survey Team on Character and Color Presentation
2. Purpose
The aim of this survey is to grasp the current situation of character and color presentation related to multilingual information processing in each country, the problems and tasks faced, and future trends, etc., and to exchange of information and opinions on such problems.
3. Background of survey
For details of the background, please refer to "Outline of Research and Development Project on Character and Color Presentation Information Technology Standards" attached.
4. Details of survey and places visited
The survey can roughly be divided into character presentation and color presentation.
(1) Character presentation of the language used in your country
Clarify the font of the language used in your country, the character point size, basic presentation rules (for instance the baseline, composition system, programming for punctuation marks to be placed properly, etc.), conditions and restrictions in computer processing, and domestic standards related to these.
We are planning to visit domestic standards related organizations, but are also considering paying visits to those involved in primary education, the printing industry, and the type face design industry.
(2) Color presentation in your country
Domestic standards on specification of colors and color names in your country, customary color practices, etc.
We are planning to visit domestic standards related organizations and those related to the printing industry.
For details of the survey items, please refer to Survey Items attached.
5. Persons visiting
6. Places hoped to visit
7. Desired schedule of visit
January to February (March) 1998
Materials attached:
"Outline of Research and Development Project on Character and Color Presentation Information Technology Standards"
"Survey Items for Survey Team on Character and Color Presentation"(Draft)
Document No.2 Outline of Research and Development Project on Character and Color Presentation Information Technology Standards (Research and Development Project on Standard Data for Diversification of International Information Exchange)
1. Background
CICC is a non-profit organization which carries out activities supporting the promotion of the informationalization of developing countries. As part of such activities, it has been promoting research and development related to information technologies and the standardization of information technologies jointly with developing
countries. Examples include AFSIT activities, holding of international symposiums on multi-lingual information processing technologies standardization.
With the support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, in 1997 CICC was entrusted with a research and development project on information technologies standards for character and color presentation in multi-lingual information processing by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization via the Japan Standards Association.
2. Details
The aim of this project is to research and develop information technologies standards for character presentation (character font size, baseline, etc.) and color presentation (color name, color palettes, etc.) by computers based on the multi-lingual information processing environment in the age of networks.
3. Implementation System
CICC set up a committee composed of academics and specialists from information related companies through the cooperation of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, NEDO, and JSA, etc. to implement research and development.
4. Activities
* Bibliographical and site surveys of the current situation of character and color presentations in major Asian countries, current situation and tasks of related information technologies and related standards.
* Experiments on information exchange related to character and color presentations
* Consideration of proposed information technology standards for character and color presentations
Document No.3 Survey Items for Survey Team on Character and Color Presentation (Draft)
1. Characters
(1) Font, style of type, mixing
-Font standards (Baseline, centering method, etc.)
-Standards on size of characters
-Font and matrix information
-Type style, sample
-Degree of satisfaction with type style
-Mixing (Baseline, offset, character size (point size), sample)
(2) Composition
-Proper style of writing, composition rules
-Program so that punctuation marks, etc. will be placed properly
(3) Others
-Character codes, input system, keyboard layout
-Writing system
-Situation of computerization in printing and publication
2. Color
(1) Situation of standardization of specification of colors according to the CIE Recommendations
(2) Outline and usage of numerical and/or symbolic specification of colors other than CIE standards Practical color system (For example, Munsell color system in Japan), situation in print (CMY/CMYK in Japan), situation in display (RGB in Japan), etc.
(3) Situation of standardization of color names
-Situation of standardization in IT related or diversity of basic color names in the native language-Color names of similar type, proper color names
(4) Current situation and problems of information processing using standard color names (or internationalization)
(5) Others
-Color samples
-Color matching and color management in printing
3. Others
-Whether compatible with PC used mainly in terms of culture (Whether satisfied, and if problems exist)
Overseas Survey Items, Questions and Reference Materials of the International Information Exchange Standard Data Research and Development Committee (Draft)
Center of the International Cooperation for Computerization (CICC)
The following survey items and questions are the objectives or examples of the survey, and shall be undertaken flexibly according to the situation and responses of the places visited based on reference materials.
I Survey Items
1. Characters
(1) Font, style of type, mixing
-Font standards (Baseline, centering method, etc.)
-Standards on size of characters
-Font and matrix information
-Type style, sample
-Degree of satisfaction with type style
-Mixing (Baseline, offset, character size (point size), sample)
(2) Composition
-Proper style of writing, composition rules
-Program so that punctuation marks, etc. will be placed properly
(3) Others
-Character codes, input system, keyboard layout
-Writing system
-Situation of computerization in printing and publication
2. Color
(1) Situation of standardization of specification of colors according to the CIE Recommendations
(2) Outline and usage of numerical and/or symbolic specification of colors other than CIE standards
Practical color system (For example, Munsell color system in Japan), situation in print (CMY/CMYK in Japan), situation in display (RGB in Japan), etc.
(3) Situation of standardization of color names
-Situation of standardization in IT related or diversity of basic color names in native language
-Color names of similar type, proper color names
(4) Current situation and problems of information processing using standard color names (or internationalization)
(5) Others
-Color samples
-Color matching and color management in printing
3. Others
-Whether compatible with PC used mainly in terms of culture (Whether satisfied, and if problems exist)
II Questions
1. Characters
(1) Font, style of type, mixing
1) Acquisition of standards on font and character size
2) Survey of actual fonts
* Font matrix information
Cardinal point of glyph, centering method, ideas on body
Position of baseline (Relative relation between baseline in English and that of own language)
Word width information and word feed pitch, point size, and other metrics
For instance, presence of adjacent lines and correction in mixture with English, and if any, ideas on amount of correction, and attributes peculiar to font
Presence of word type (if word type categories exist) and font attributes per word type
(Note)
This item is an attribute peculiar to font, but is realized in most cases by mounting to the composition application. Consequently, the actual survey will be implemented at the application side.
* Using environment of font
PC: Presence of font for double size display, screen font size (range, default value)
Printer: Standard printer specifications (format, resolution), imagesetter environment
* Type of distribution font, number of type styles (for each format, for text/for index)
* Method of processing foreign words
* Other items on font environment peculiar to each country
* Composition quality in mixture with third language when the mixing relation between own language and English is maintained
(2) Composition
* Essential composition rules, composition direction, and basic composition method
Whether the standard composition rule exists, and if yes, the details and composition rule by field
* Composition application generally used (for each platform)
(3) Others
1) Character code
* Types of standards
* Gathering of standards (presuming purchasing)
* Actual situation and future prospects of relation between domestic and internal standards
* Survey of actual situation of mounting on PCs, etc. (intending survey at PC shops.)
2) Input system, keyboard layout
3) Writing system
* Types of characters
* Curriculum (What types of characters are taught in what way at what age)
* Educational consideration of order of stroke (for Chinese characters) and technique of writing
* Education on method of using symbols in writing (Gathering of educational materials (textbooks, references for leaning, etc.) (basically bought at book shops))
* What is the proper method of writing?
* Are there differences in the method of writing between education, general books, newspapers, etc.? If yes, what are the differences?
4) The obstacles in information exchange between own language and other countries (This question is very vague and results cannot be expected much. Efforts must be made to obtain more specific responses from the interviewee.)
5) Actual situation of government publications and textbook printing (situation of use of computers, types of fonts which can be used, and oligopolistic situation of specific companies, etc.)
6) Situation of use of computers by newspaper companies and publishing companies (in percentage)
2. Color
(1) Situation of standardization of specifying colors according to CIE
The current situation of standards related to the colors of each country will be surveyed. Documents on the standards will be obtained if possible. If required, Japan's JIS will briefly be introduced for reference.
(2) Outline and usage of numerical and/or symbolic specification of colors other than CIE standards
For instance, survey the existence of Munsell color system, Ostwald color system, print type (CMY/CMYK), display type (RGB), etc. and whether they are used.
(3) Situation of standardization of color names
The situation of standardization (or diversification) of color names of the basic 16 colors (or above) will be surveyed. The standardization of the systematic color names and idiomatic color names according to each language will also be surveyed.
(4) Current situation and problems of information processing using color names
The current situation and problems of information processing using color names presenting in their language will be surveyed.
(5) Others
Various color samples and related literature will be collected.
The actual situation of color matching color management in printing will be surveyed.
The situation of color reproducibility (original picture, monitor, color proofreading paper, etc.), and method of specifying color correction (including terms), and color compensation tools will also be surveyed.
(Reference)
Survey of characters (Example)
The following shall be considered.
1) Explained on the premise that the English system and applications exist.
2) The problem is, the aim is not to realize merely each language processing but carry out mutual localization of different languages at high quality, and consider how to enable mixture of descriptions in different languages.
3) Since information equipment are mainly targeted, horizontal writing from left to right shall basically be considered. (Vertical writing will be added when necessary for related items.)
A Baseline
A-1
An English penmanship practice book with four lines drawn is supposed (the limits in using the paper for longhand for explaining the print type is acknowledged.)
When English letters are practiced by print type in this way, the base of a capital letter is written aligned with the second line from the bottom (baseline) and the top of the capital letter is written aligned to the topmost line (cap height/ascender).
The same baseline is used for small letters, with the second line from the top (x height) as the upper limit and the descender is written according to the bottommost line (descended line/low line/descender).
A-2
When actually writing English letters (on boards, etc.), reference horizontal lines are drawn for the number required, and using these lines as the baselines, letters are written to fit the space between these lines well (concept on point).
A-3
The same more or less applies to other languages, for instance, Japanese. Several baselines are drawn, and characters are written according to these lines.
In this case, regarding how to write the character of that language, normally English characters and characters of other languages are not considered and the characters of that country are written on the baseline in the easiest way.
In addition, in the case of Japanese, the average base of a Chinese character is aligned to this baseline, and the Chinese character is written in a size with the more appropriate balance for Japanese between this baseline and the baseline of the character at the top.
(Japanese characters can be written vertically or horizontally. In artwork, normally marks are placed at the center position. As the squares are used for practicing writing, the explanation is quite unnatural.)
This was confirmed with Arabic last week when we visited Cairo.
A-4
Based on the same idea on writing, it is presumed that the font is also set. When characters are laid out on the application, characters of all languages are displayed, aligned to these baselines on the software.
Question 1 : Is the character balanced in this case? Is there no need for off-set?
A-5
When writing the character more realistically, only the baseline is drawn. But in this case, it was assumed that the cap height was also written and the balance at the top is also taken into consideration.
Question 2 : Other than the baseline, what about the balance when the cap-height is adjusted? Is there no need to off-set for each?
A-6
In most cases, the point size is determined at every baseline. So adjusting the cap-height may be possible in extreme cases. Since there exists scripts in which the main body of the character becomes extremely small with the same line spacing as seen in the case of Thai characters, it may be more understandable if the concept of cap-height off-set is considered.
Question 3 : If adjusted by base-line, and cap-height off-sets in this way, will the same line-spacing as English apply? If no, please specify.
Observation 1 : Study the actual situation of displays and print outs of PCs on the market for this problem.
Survey 1
Setting aside PCs, etc., we will try to obtain samples of actual printed materials to see what they are like.
B Character Size (Point Size)
B-1
Taking into consideration A-5 and A-6, the point size of characters causes worry. If localization is taken into consideration, it would be desirable to obtain balance by setting off-set at the same point size.
Question 4 : Do you have standards on character size in your country? If yes, what are international conformity?
Observation 2 : Study especially the actual point size of PCs.
C Character Design -1
C-1
Off-set with English letters especially caused worry in relation with the baseline in A. In the actual case, balance in the design of the characters of a country and English characters or other countries could not be attained, and there arises a need to adjust to either in some cases.
For instance, most European characters for mixing Japanese and European have special designs formalizing with Japanese in which the lower branch is short and the point of intersection such as y is at the top.
Question 5 : When mixing your country's characters with English characters, is there a need to give English characters special designs in balance with your characters?
Question 6 : Is this also taken into consideration in relations with the characters of other countries?
Observation 3 : Check the actual situation with printed materials.
C-2
In this way, when the balance of the design itself is disregarded, the problem of off-sets worried in A will disappear if in the same text. The problem of point size should also begin to disappear. However, when localization is considered, if characters of the text are replaced in the same drawing, the positions of the characters will move up and down contrary to expectations, and thus making it necessary to retain the base-line off-set concept.
Note: However, the position of the characters in the cell of the spread sheet can be dealt with in this way, but will this be insufficient for real graphics?
D Character Design -2
D-1
Regarding the problem of style of type, basically are consideration to prevent unnaturalness when mixing? If yes, in what way?
Question 7 : When you mix your characters with English letters, what do you do about the design balance?
* What about when sherif is attached such as Times Roman?
* What about sans sherif such as Arial?
* Or do you use special English types according to the design of your characters?
(Looking at the types of the hotel we stayed at in Egypt, the English letters used were designed according t the Arabic characters.)
Observation 4 : Observe this with the printed materials used locally.
D-2
Variety of types and demands
Question 8 : How many types do you have for normal printed materials?
Observation 5 : Study the actual situation.
E Composition Rules and Programming to Place Punctuation Marks Properly
The questions from A to D should be separated like "is it determined by composition rules or are they simply common sense? Or any other composition rules?"
---------------------------------