Re: Question on Text Justification of Korean

Original Message:
> 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?

As Jungshik pointed out, broken.

While following the spacing as per example 1 and 2 in the English/Japanese
examples is bad, one of those is what most applications do. Rough memory
says 1 is more common.

Sangwhan

Received on Thursday, 23 October 2014 13:45:00 UTC