Deciphering Basmala
a day ago
- #Unicode
- #basmala
- #Arabic typography
- Arabic script is always cursive and relies on ligatures for proper rendering, unlike Latin script which uses few ligatures.
- The phrase "bismillah al-rahman al-rahim" (بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ) is crucial in Arabic calligraphy, and early font engines failed to render it correctly, leading to unacceptable text.
- Unicode includes a special codepoint U+FDFD for the basmala, but its glyph design varies across platforms and has been criticized by typeface designers.