To: CyrTeX-en@vsu.ru, lcs@topo.math.u-psud.fr
Subject: WL and WLCY
Message-Id: <E11yRiW-00056p-00@topo.math.u-psud.fr>
From: Laurent Siebenmann <lcs@topo.math.u-psud.fr>
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 04:36:36 +0100


Dear Vladimir,

Thanks for an excellent rundown on the current situation 
on russification methods.  On the balance I would agree 
that the active character approach has the best 
performance.  Which does not imply that the other 
approaches are *never* preferable!

You have just created an admirably complete set of WL 
fonts (vf and tm versions), in analogy with the WLCY font 
demo posted by the AmS several years 
ago.  Everyone seems to be agreed that this is a 
simplest way to get correct kerning and hyphenation from 
the WNCY fonts and equally from the WN fonts. 

You ask: 

 >  LS> 1) Is there a version of the "WN" without the poisonous
 >  LS> ligatures. Maybe "WL" fonts?

 > i just created such virtual fonts which refer to WN fonts but do not
 > have "false" ligatures, and sent them to you in a separate letter. Are
 > these WL fonts important enough to have them officially supported?


I do think the effort is important enough to have 
WL and WLCY fonts officially supported --- 
basically because it is extremely simple and gives 
impeccable results.

Let me elaborate a bit on this. The WNCY fonts have 
the advantage of being present in virtually every TeX 
system worldwide, and even in Type 1 format on many 
Windows and all Macintosh micros. 

The average TeX user is given to understand that the WNCY 
fonts are adequate for -- at very least -- bibliographic 
references to the Russian literature made in English 
language articles. This is true for the WLCY fonts. But, 
as has we now fully understand, the WNCY unavoidably have 
glaring deficiencies of kerning and hyphenation.

Some say that this does not matter for references and 
short quotations. This is nonsense where hypnenation is 
concerned!  Indeed: 

(a) Knuth's global hyphenation algorithm for a paragraph 
makes hyphenation at first and second lines *far* more 
probable that at later lines.

(b) Non-russian users are incompetent to do hypnenation
by hand.


What applies to WNCY (and WLCY) applies to WN (and WL). 
The WN (or WL) russian fonts have the same aims, but 
happily are more complete and better in style.  So, where 
the WNCY fonts are not available in suitable faces, the WN 
fonts can step in gracefully without throwing the TeX user 
into a situation where he is asked to relearn a lot to 
improve his typography --- perhaps just marginally. 

I admit that this argument is one that applies best
outside Russia.  But it probably applies to quite a few 
Russians when they are abroad or even writing in English 
when in Russia.

       Cheers

           Larry Siebenmann