From @uga.cc.uga.edu:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET Thu Sep 24 11:27:18 1992 Received: from uga.cc.uga.edu by MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Thu, 24 Sep 1992 11:27:15 -0400 Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU by uga.cc.uga.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 8798; Thu, 24 Sep 92 11:25:58 EDT Received: by UGA (Mailer R2.08 PTF008) id 1729; Thu, 24 Sep 92 11:25:26 EDT Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 11:26:08 -0400 Reply-To: "Mark E. Shoulson" Sender: Lojban list From: "Mark E. Shoulson" Subject: Typography X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Erik Rauch In-Reply-To: dmb%PALM.CRAY.COM@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU's message of Thu, 24 Sep 1992 10:01:19 -0500 Status: RO X-Status: Message-ID: Took a little fiddling to get Veijo's DVI file printed out; someone forgot to set up a PostScript-resolution version of cmss8 on my system, had to argue with METAFONT myself. It does look very nice, and the apostrophes are clear enough. I think I still prefer monospaced typewriter text for occasional text, as in an English document with bits of Lojban strewn in among it (though Veijo's right that the interword spaces look a little much when used inside a regular Roman paragraph), or for small selections of Lojban even set off in separate paragraphs. But a whole book or chapter entirely in typewriter font could probably get tiresome on the eyes, and lining up letters is not very useful in that situation, while the sans-serif text seems easier to read in large quantity. Good thinking on Veijo's part to stay with the monospaced typewriter font for the entries in the gismu lists, so they *do* still line up, all the same length. Sans-serif fonts aren't as well-represented in most installations of TeX as typewriter, but that should influence only whether each individual writer should use them. We aren't writing for TeX compatibility. The problem I have is the same one: "I" looks like "l". Granted, Lojban's use of mostly lowercase will help alleviate that, but we still use "I" for stressed syllables. Take the word of a Klingon-language fan, that's a hassle. For some reason, Marc Okrand saw fit to use "I" instead of "i", and use a sans-serif font for the phrase-book at the end of his dictionary, with the result that people everywhere are using "l" in the wrong places. Words like "SljlaH" (should be "SIjlaH") have been printed in newspaper articles about the project, and I've seen people insulted by being told "blmoHqu'" (and they say _regular_ Klingon is hard to pronounce!). ~mark