Neglected Factors in Arabic Fonts

AzizMostafa — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 00:41:53 -0700

Peace be on All Friends,
The attached file shows One Arabic Word in 3 different Styles:
Two Computerized and the other Calligraphed (top)...

This 4-letter word begins with the egg-shaped letter (Sad) and ends with (ö),
The 2nd letter has 2 arms (like >) and the 3rd looks like dotless j.

Which style is more attractive, shorter (less horizontal) and more comfortable to the eyes?

The Top! That’s right. Why? For 4 reasons:
> the 2nd letter’s upper-arm shouldered the 1st letter that happily hoped on and its lower-arm curved slightly to join the third letter
> the 3rd letter coiled itself slightly to fill(kill) the gap it makes with (ö), and
> The last letter (ö) moved up and right as she always likes to be snuggled.

Slight yet Smart Changes?

Technically Speaking, the first 2 letters are ligatured and the last 2 letters are kerned. Or: Ligatures integrate 2 or more letters into one and Kerning narrows the gap between 2 letters.

By and large, in order to join appropriately to neighbouring letters (where applicable),
1. Letter Tails (not heads) slightly change to achieve smooth connection, and
2. Meem, Ha and likewise letters (Jeem and Kha) shoulder earlier Letters.

To get all the Calligraphical possibilities of each and every letter, go explore:
http://qurankareem.info/a/OthmanyFonts.zip
http://qurankareem.info/a/othmanyQuran.zip

Hope Designers won’t neglecte these 2 factors in their coming fonts.
Happy Exploring with Flowers

Typophile - Neglected Factors in Arabic Fonts - Comments

Neglected Factors in Arabic Fonts