[minutes] Arabic layout telecon 2015-10-20

http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html





text version follows:



Arabic Layout telecon

20 Oct 2015

    See also: [2]IRC log

       [2] http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-irc

Attendees

    Present
           Shervin, mostafa, Behnam, r12a, Najib, Azzeddine_on_IRC

    Regrets
           Waseem

    Chair
           Behnam

    Scribe
           Shervin, Behnam

Contents

      * [3]Topics
          1. [4]Status review of action items from previous meeting
          2. [5]Recruiting Status
          3. [6]Status report on glossary work
          4. [7]Planning for start of drafting
      * [8]Summary of Action Items
      __________________________________________________________

Status review of action items from previous meeting

    <r12a> ACTION: Behnam to file github issues for special cases,
    like Quran [recorded in
    [9]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action02]

    <r12a> ACTION: Behnam to follow-up with Martin about a
    Lightning Talk at the IUC [recorded in
    [10]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action03]

    <r12a> ACTION: Behnam to prepare slides for the talk and share
    with the TF [recorded in
    [11]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action04]

    Behnam: Is working on the slides for the IUC presentation.
    ... Next agenda item is about typesetting software.

    <r12a> ACTION: Everybody to gather information about
    Arabic-specific Typesetting software [recorded in
    [12]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action05]

    <r12a> ACTION: Richard to figure out how to maintain action
    items [recorded in
    [13]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action06]

    <r12a> closed

    <r12a> ACTION: Behnam to file an issue re Math and whether to
    exclude that in the first version [ONGOING] [recorded in
    [14]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action07]

    Behnam: is still working on action item related to math.

    <r12a> ACTION: Behnam to research the existing experts for
    other languages like Urdu [recorded in
    [15]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action08]

    Behnam: Will keep the action item open regarding other
    languages experts (e.g. Urdu).

    <r12a> ACTION: r12a to check regarding processing of the
    minutes and get back to the group [recorded in
    [16]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action09]

    r12a: Will publish the minute.

    <r12a> ACTION: Shervin to put together a preliminary list of
    existing literature [recorded in
    [17]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action10]

    Shervin: On the email sent to the ML, there's a Dropbox link to
    see the files

    <Shervin>
    [18]https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7kn9sy9tuve0s9/ALReq_Refs_List.m
    d?dl=0

      [18] https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7kn9sy9tuve0s9/ALReq_Refs_List.md?dl=0

    Shervin: Not all the items will be referenced first-hand
    ... and some are more valuable than others

    <Shervin>
    [19]https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jt161nncj3c6xez/AABCFWUdKCGZTW9g
    XS9tYSpVa?dl=0

      [19] 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jt161nncj3c6xez/AABCFWUdKCGZTW9gXS9tYSpVa?dl=0

    Shervin: We need someone with knowledge of Arabic to help
    understanding some of these documents
    ... some taken from the website of standard organization of
    Saudi Arabia

    <r12a> [20]http://w3c.github.io/typography/#justification

      [20] http://w3c.github.io/typography/#justification

    1+

    <r12a> [21]http://www.tug.org/tugboat/tb27-2/tb87benatia.pdf

      [21] http://www.tug.org/tugboat/tb27-2/tb87benatia.pdf

    r12a: Topics provided in the email.

    <r12a>
    [22]http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0013.105/--justify-
    just-or-just-justify?rgn=main;view=fulltext

      [22] 
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0013.105/--justify-just-or-just-justify?rgn=main;view=fulltext

    <r12a>
    [23]http://www.cle.org.pk/Publication/papers/2004/rule-based-ex
    pert-system.pdf

      [23] 
http://www.cle.org.pk/Publication/papers/2004/rule-based-expert-system.pdf

    <Behnam> Shervin: Anyone with a Dropbox account can ask for
    write permission to add documents directly, or, if not, send
    Shervin change requests over email

    <r12a> [24]http://rishida.net/blog/?p=1059

      [24] http://rishida.net/blog/?p=1059

    Shervin: Going to put in the topics that Richard sent over

    r12a: Some of them might not want to go into the list.

    <r12a> the last url just give ideas to consider for alreq,
    rather than being a reference doc

Recruiting Status

    Mostafa: No update from contacts.

    Shervin: Welcoming, Azzeddine.
    ... Question for Mostafa regarding Salar's participation.

    Behnam: Is Salar on the mailing list?

    r12a: He's on the list.
    ... Sent some information to the University in Oman. Copied
    people who are going to go there for a meeting re Unicode.
    ... Craig Cummings showed interest and he will follow the
    conversation on mailing list.

    Najib: Still looking for right people who are aware of Arabic
    publishing including Quran.
    ... People contacted don't know what's expected from them.
    ... May want to contact them regularly as we advance in the
    document.

    <azzeddine> azzeddine

    <azzeddine> hello all, my apologies

    <Behnam> Shervin: As a follow up to Najib's comment: we can
    point people to the keywords list and document structure, as
    well as other Layout Requirement documents published

    Shervin: Re: Recruiting. Would be good to share JLReq and list
    of keywords with people who might be interested.

Status report on glossary work

    Shervin: Have the spreadsheet. Shared with people who showed
    interest. Mostafa added some terms. How people feel about
    starting the translation?

    mostafa: Suggests to look in the existing literature. Find the
    words used.
    ... If there's one, we're good. If there is more we can decide
    about it later.
    ... this would reduce the amount of work.

    +1

    Najib: Didn't start conributing yet. Have a set of terms to
    add. Some already added.
    ... Not sure how to fill the glossary with translation.

    Najib: We can have many terms which means the same concept.
    ... This is the question for the group.

    <Behnam> Shervin: As mostafa mentioned, there can exist
    duplicate terms

    <Behnam> ... the requirement document will be in English, and
    we can have all the different terms used in other languages

    Mostafa: Another aspect of what Najib mentioned; different
    terms in English for same concept.

    <Behnam> ... and the second thing is that we don't need limit
    the glossary to one translation per term

    Mostafa: We can use one of them. Others can just appear or be
    linked to original.

    <Behnam> +1

    <Behnam> Shervin: Question for mostafa and Najib: do you have
    access to the google-docs document?

    <Behnam> ... (both confirm) Feel free to work on the document
    there and I will chip in myself

    <Behnam> This is the document:
    [25]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nSxYKQm_mKroCmxU4fy
    J-g70Eo1_mF89yHZg8YNOuzc/edit#gid=0

      [25] 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nSxYKQm_mKroCmxU4fyJ-g70Eo1_mF89yHZg8YNOuzc/edit#gid=0

    <Behnam> Shervin: Added columns for Persian and Arabic
    translations

    <Behnam> Shervin: Let's start with priorities 1 and 2, for now

    Mostafa: Sources should be document. We need to have them
    documented in a spreadsheet.

    Behnam: How is different than current state of the doc?

    Mostafa: There is no bibliography. e.g. "Soltani" is not
    specified.

    <Behnam> Shervin: I'm going to add a unique identifier to all
    the items in our references list

    <mostafa> +1

    <Behnam> ... for now, if you see something in the glossary
    that's not clear, you can add a new tab to the spreadsheet and
    keep them there temporarily

    Behnam: Other discussion about glossary work.

    Mostafa: Actions needed to be defined?

    <Behnam> ACTION: Shervin to add unique ids to the references
    list [recorded in
    [26]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action11]

    <Behnam> ACTION: Shervin to process links proposed by Richard
    [recorded in
    [27]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action12]

    <Behnam> ACTION: Mostafa and Najib to populate translations in
    the Glossary [recorded in
    [28]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action13]

    <Behnam> Shervin: We already covered the topic and got the
    actions, which I'll follow up on

    <r12a> ACTION: Shervin to add list of references to spreadsheet
    and assign unique identifiers [recorded in
    [29]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action14]

Planning for start of drafting

    <Behnam> Shervin: Najib, in an email, mentioned the use/misuse
    of typefaces/fonts

    <Behnam> ... this is a good example of what we can cover

    <Behnam> ... in section "Font and Typography Considerations"

    <Behnam> ... and there are other writing styles to also
    consider, like Nasta'liq

    Najib: Will propose some text for this section. Will email the
    content.

    <r12a> for reference, here's a similar section in clreq
    [30]http://w3c.github.io/clreq/#commonly_used_chinese_typefaces

      [30] http://w3c.github.io/clreq/#commonly_used_chinese_typefaces

    r12a: One thought is to avoid the style-guide pitfall. There is
    a similar section in CLReq. We should be careful not to write
    recommendations.

    Shervin: Readability issue of font styles something to put in
    the document?

    r12a: Can be. Styling and justifications, etc. of fonts are
    different. Styling of Nastaliq is very different.

    Behnam: Wanted to note that although we don't want to
    recommend, for the sake of describing the problem, we need to
    get to the description and classes of styles.

    r12a: The behaviour varies from font style to font style. We
    rather document rather than providing recommendations.

    <r12a> another example: fonts in the Ruqah style never use
    elongation at all (see [31]http://rishida.net/blog/?p=1059)

      [31] http://rishida.net/blog/?p=1059)

    <r12a> +1 to Shervin's comment

    <Najib> +1 too

    Shervin: Document the usages without favoring one over the
    other.

    Najib: The intention was to describe styles. And what not to do
    with styles. Some remarks to make people aware of how to use
    them.
    ... Not to recommend or put rules.

    r12a: Sounds good to me.

    Behnam: Any other section of the document we want to talk
    about?

    r12a: I've been hearing this for a long time; for Persian if
    Nastaliq is not used then Tahoma is a good font.

    Behnam: Lacking other fonts, Tahoma is a font to use.
    Specifically for publications, it's prefered to use other
    fonts.

    <Najib> +1 to Behnam about Tahoma

    Mostafa: Agrees with Behnam. Tahoma rarely appears in print.
    More options are available these days and other options are
    used.
    ... aesthetically it doesn't have much appeal to Iranians.

    <Behnam> Shervin: Mostafa likes to start working on the
    Characters section

    <Behnam> ... and Najib is willing to start the Styles and Fonts
    section

    Mostafa: Glossary is not going to be done in a week and it's an
    ongoing task.

    <scribe> ACTION: Mostafa to start the section on Characters and
    provide some draft for everyone's feedback and contribution.
    [recorded in
    [32]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action15]

    <scribe> ACTION: Najib to produce some text for the section
    "Fonts and Typographical Considerations" based on discussions
    on the mailing list and IRC. [recorded in
    [33]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action16]

    <r12a> i'm finding some interesting pages that might inspire
    Najib: [34]http://islamicart.com/main/calligraphy/styles/,
    [35]http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/2013/07/a-brief-guide-to-a
    rabic-scripts-and-calligraphy/

      [34] http://islamicart.com/main/calligraphy/styles/,
      [35] 
http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/2013/07/a-brief-guide-to-arabic-scripts-and-calligraphy/

    <Najib> Thank Richard

    <Behnam> azzeddine, since we don't have you on the phone, is
    there anything you like to share with us here?

    <Najib> Gonna look at it.

    <azzeddine> no, i follow you

    Behnam: I can also work with drafting of Characters sections.

    <Najib> @ Richard. Links looks inspiring

    Mostafa: Will communicate regarding drafting.

    r12a: One thing that comes to mind; there was discussions on
    CSS regarding default styles and fallback styles.
    ... which fonts one expects to see for serif, sans-serif, etc.
    ... These questions might be relevant to Arabic as well./
    ... Without saying "In CSS you should do this..."

    Behnam: Agrees. Topic of classifying writing styles.
    ... Default writing styles for different languages might be
    different.

    Shervin: Not enough study and literature about the topic of
    mapping the styles to serif, sans-, etc.

    Najib: We can separate the problem of Arabic style in general
    and Arabic mixed with others.
    ... That's why I'm not mentioning CSS firsthand.\

    Mostafa: Shervin mentioned Naskh as bookish type. There's not
    much certainty about these.
    ... As we don't want to come across as a style guide. We don't
    have to make statement that there's not enough info.

    r12a: We can describe general tendency as background
    information.

    Mostafa: The amount of content that we go into details not
    clear to us just yet.

    Behnam: Agrees. There is the lack of enough study on these
    topics. If we look deeper we might be able to do something that
    benefits from the existing studies...
    ... For the case of CSS (serif, sans-, monospace), because they
    were there in the beginning of desktop pub
    ... The reason for having these classes was different use-cases
    in the western world.
    ... They had connotations in design.
    ... That's why something like computer source code is present
    in monospace.
    ... The root cause of having these definition is the use cases.
    ... For Arabic we have Nastaliq for fancy documents (like a
    graduation certificate)

    <azzeddine> I can't give any opinion Now about these topics.
    However, when we propose a text, I'll study it with a confirmed
    arabic calligraph

    Behnam: Handwriting style used for some friendly note
    ... These use cases are not documented.
    ... I don't see a big problem in documenting on what we know
    and agree on.

    <mostafa> +1

    <Behnam> Shervin: I see your point, but I think there's not
    enough consensus about the style usage

    <Behnam> ... specially when it gets to different
    languages/regions

    <Behnam> ... we can show people some usages of styles

    <Behnam> ... but we cannot recommend any style explicitly

    <Behnam> ... because, for example, a handwriting font may not
    look good enough

    <Behnam> +1

    Behnam: We can agree on what's formal or official.

    Behnam: We can agree with a good probability that an official
    certificate would be in Nastaliq or a variation.
    ... It's a thin line between recommending and this is the
    common practice.
    ... It's a slightly different case from Latin script when it
    comes to use-cases.
    ... The practices are different between languages.
    ... We can agree that we want to document the styles.
    ... After that the use-cases can be talked about based on
    region and language.
    ... We can find resources regarding that.

    <Zakim> Najib, you wanted to comment on AOB

    <r12a> we can say "Nastaliq tends to be used for ..."

    Najib: Question on Unicode conference remote participation?

    Behnam: I guess not. If people are interested in some talks,
    then we can setup some video conferencing.
    ... We can set up a video conf for the lightening talk.

    <Behnam> [36]https://github.com/w3c/alreq

      [36] https://github.com/w3c/alreq

    <r12a> ACTION: Richard to ensure that people are notified about
    github issues [recorded in
    [37]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action17]

    Najib: Question about getting notification when someone files a
    Github issue.

    Behnam: You need to watch the repository.
    ... Any other topics before we close the call?

    <Behnam> Thanks everyone!

    <mostafa> Thank you.

    <mostafa> Bye.

Summary of Action Items

    [NEW] ACTION: Behnam to file github issues for special cases,
    like Quran [recorded in
    [38]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action02]
    [NEW] ACTION: Behnam to follow-up with Martin about a Lightning
    Talk at the IUC [recorded in
    [39]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action03]
    [NEW] ACTION: Behnam to prepare slides for the talk and share
    with the TF [recorded in
    [40]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action04]
    [NEW] ACTION: Behnam to research the existing experts for other
    languages like Urdu [recorded in
    [41]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action08]
    [NEW] ACTION: Everybody to gather information about
    Arabic-specific Typesetting software [recorded in
    [42]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action05]
    [NEW] ACTION: Mostafa and Najib to populate translations in the
    Glossary [recorded in
    [43]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action13]
    [NEW] ACTION: Mostafa to start the section on Characters and
    provide some draft for everyone's feedback and contribution.
    [recorded in
    [44]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action15]
    [NEW] ACTION: Najib to produce some text for the section "Fonts
    and Typographical Considerations" based on discussions on the
    mailing list and IRC. [recorded in
    [45]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action16]
    [NEW] ACTION: r12a to check regarding processing of the minutes
    and get back to the group [recorded in
    [46]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action09]
    [NEW] ACTION: Richard to ensure that people are notified about
    github issues [recorded in
    [47]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action17]
    [NEW] ACTION: Shervin to add list of references to spreadsheet
    and assign unique identifiers [recorded in
    [48]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action14]
    [NEW] ACTION: Shervin to add unique ids to the references list
    [recorded in
    [49]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action11]
    [NEW] ACTION: Shervin to process links proposed by Richard
    [recorded in
    [50]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action12]
    [NEW] ACTION: Shervin to put together a preliminary list of
    existing literature [recorded in
    [51]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action10]

    [PENDING] ACTION: Behnam to file an issue re Math and whether
    to exclude that in the first version [recorded in
    [52]http://www.w3.org/2015/10/20-alreq-minutes.html#action07]

    [End of minutes]

Received on Thursday, 22 October 2015 09:28:17 UTC