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yaaqov wrote (edited )

Totally! I think this is especially an issue when the columns are viewed in isolation, and without a clear baseline, as is the case here. However, I think this issue is generally mitigated in the context of a real sentence: the whole vertical range is typically used, so that being able to interpret the vertical position of the material within a given column becomes much easier.

In terms of redundancy, it's true, there is essentially no room for variation within a column without a different, unintended letter/sound being represented. However, again, I think that the context of writing helps a lot: here, the fact that the columns within a word directly abut each other means that strings that correspond to words nearly appear as gestalt glyphs, almost like logographs/pictographs. Here is an example using the Dotsies system from the website; while moving one dot in an isolated letter may be scarcely detectable, in the context of word, a pretty noticeably different shape is created: Here's a side-by-side comparison of a couple words and their variations.


As for progress on my own system, well all I really have right now is a .ttf font! Which I'd be happy to share, and can do so by later today, along with some explanation about how to use it and the system itself.

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Fossidarity OP wrote (edited )

I really like how the letters merge together to form a symbol, maybe that alone could be a basis to create a font from, maybe with ligatures? I think Gestalt theory could be a good basis for this..

I would love to see the .ttf font! How did you make it? Did you use FontForge?

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yaaqov wrote (edited )

Could you elaborate a little more on this idea for a font?

Okay, I'm happy to hear it!

Well I've been teaching myself to use fontforge in the last few weeks, but what I'll be sending to you was created solely on fonstruct, which is very limited in that you can only draw from a finite set of shapes and set them on a grid, with no bezier curves or anything, but that's just fine for a script made of squares haha.

(I also made a "helping font" just like Dotsies uses—that is, a replacement of the blocks in the columns with the letters (in my case, IPA) that they represent—and that could really use a re-do in something with real drawing capabilities. It's... rough. You'll see.)

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Fossidarity OP wrote

I don't really have it fleshed out in my mind but probably somewhere between Arabic and Chinese? So instead of static symbols like in Chinese or long "words" like in Arabic short symbols but made up of a combination of letter-pairs so it's mapable to the alphabet.

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yaaqov wrote

This sounds neat! I'd love to see anything you come up with, if you feel like posting.

Sorry for the delay wrt my font by the way. Been pretty busy and tired lately, I hope to get something soon!

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