Re: [docbook] How To Write Non-Unicode Symbol?

[Norm Tovey-Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>]

Michael Urban <urban@panix.com> writes:
> What Unicode construct has the best semantics for representing an

One approach is to use âinlinemediaobjectâ which exists largely for this
purpose. Anywhere you can write text that should be rendered, you can
also insert an inlinemediaobject and use a graphic for the glyph.

(Markup for âmedia objectsâ got more complicated over the years. I
expect that was originally âinlinegraphicâ and took a single fileref
attribute. Câest la vie.)

Markup-wise, itâs the most tedious if the currency symbol occurs
frequently, but itâs the most portable solution because it doesnât (have
to) involve a particular font.

> oddball non-Unicode character?  If I am writing a novel in which
> there is a currency symbol, the Quatloo, represented by a glyph
> from a custom font (say, a Q with three lines through it), how should
> I write it?  <phrase role="quatloo">Q</phrase>?

Sure, that would be fine. I might go with <symbol>Quatloo</symbol> or
maybe even <symbol>Q</symbol>.

If you want it to be an actual Unicode character in your document, you
could take any of the characters from the a private use area[1] but
those arenât likely to render nicely in your document and transforming
them into a font+character reference may be trickier in subsequent
processing.

To be honest, if I was going to use an actual character for a currency
symbol, planning to later replace that with something else for
publication, Iâd be tempted to choose an existing currency symbol so
that it would be easy to see in my editor. For example, the existing
fantasy currency symbol, â.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Use_Areas

--
Norm Tovey-Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>
https://norm.tovey-walsh.com/

> Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three
> decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded
> good.--Thomas Sowell

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