Question on Text Justification of Korean

Hello,
The CSSWG is working on default rules for text justification, for
when there is no information on the document language. The rules
will not be ideal for any one language, but should nonetheless
produce acceptable results.

A key question we are stuck on is whether in Korean it is acceptable
to expand between Han and Hangul characters even when Hangul is not
expanded.

For example, is it OK to expand
   0.  서울특별시(서울特別市)는 한반도
as
   1.  서울특별시(서울 特 別 市 )는    한반도
?
We suspect this is not ideal, but want to know whether this is
(A) bad or (B) broken.

For comparison, here are examples of English justification:
   0.  This is a justification example.
   1.  This          is           a          justification         example.
   2.  T h i s     i s    a    j u s t i f i c a t i o n    e x a m p l e .
   3.  This        is        a       just   ifica   tion         ex  ample.

(A) Bad: #1 & #2
   #1 & #2 look bad because there is too much space making it hard to read.
(B) Broken: #3
   #3 is broken because, while the spaces within words are smaller
   than between words, they are placed where there shouldn't be spaces,
   distorting the text.

And here are examples of Japanese justification:
   0. Elikaは勉強しますから寝ませんでした。
   1. E l i k a は 勉 強 し ま す か ら 寝 ま せ ん で し た。
   2. Elika                   は勉強しますから寝ませんでした。
   3. Elika    は   勉   強   しますから   寝   ませんでした。

(A) Bad: #1 & #2
   #1 is not good because it is preferred not to expand Roman in most cases;
   but it is acceptable to put space there.
   #2 is not ideal because there is too much space, creating discontinuity.
(B) Broken: #3
   #3 is broken because Japanese does not accept to treat Kanji and Kana
   differently for justification.

So, please let us know, is example #1 for Korean--putting space between
Han but not Hangul--considered (A) bad or (B) broken?

Thank you!

~fantasai

Received on Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:14:03 UTC