Request for comment on a technical SignWriting document

[Jonathan]

Hi Steve,
     Here are some comments about the technical document.

Copyright Notice

Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as
described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

Does this include implementing the SignWriting Script or just code 
lifted from the document?  Why the BSD? If I recall it is the first time 
we are using this license.  Just curious.

1.1.1.  Grapheme

The graphemes do not change size or shape when combined in a visual pattern.

Do you mean that only one font size will be available?  I am 
implementing SignWriter Studio to change the size of each individual 
grapheme within the sign.  Am I to understand that the SignWriting 
Script will not support this feature?  Or at least not within the script 
directly?  How would you modify the size of one grapheme and not another 
if it is not part of the script?  It would be problematic to qualify the 
size of anything more than a full sign.  If you meant that size is not 
affected directly by combining the graphemes, then how is font size to 
be specified, it didn't notice it in any other part of the document.

Something else I didn't notice was custom coloring of the graphemes.  
How will this be supported?


      2.  ISWA 2010 Design

A symbol ID is a unique combination of 6 numbers connected by
dashes(-) as numbered by 11-22-333-44-55-66.

Are the dashes for better readability?  For computing purposes I 
personally prefer a fixed length string without the dashes as it is a 
bit more compact and would already have concatenated numbers for 
searches on indexed columns.  Otherwise the dashes need to be removed 
first to do the same which isn't a problem but adds to the computing 
cost.  Being that you have fixed length anyways why use both methods?


2.2.  Symbol

The fill modifier can best be understood through the hand symbols. The first 3 fills are understood from the expressive viewpoint: signs as seen by the
signer. The last 3 fills are understood from the overhead viewpoint: signs as seen when looking down on the signer.

You might want to mention that there are 6 different fills.  That they 
represent the palm facing.  This paragraph has a drastic jump from the 
previous ones and should be more explicit for people not well aquainted 
with SignWriting. Or consider briefly presenting the fills, put the 
table then this paragraph.

Rotations Table

Rotation

	

Direction

	

Degrees from top


Consider mentioning that rotations 09-16 are mirrored.  Otherwise it 
would seem like repeated graphemes but only in another order.


A string of x-bsw3 characters must be well formed to be valid.
Validity can be determined with regular expressions. Validity can be
verified with a left to right parser, one character at a time.
Validity can be defined withABNF.

What is ABNF?


B.3.1.  Format

Alternately, a space can be
used every 72 characters to chunk Binary SignWriting into fixed width
character strings.


Why is chunking important?  I there any risk that a sign might be broken 
up by one of these spaces?

*General comments.*

Short concise examples could help make the concepts clearer to readers.  
The text is well written and generally has sufficiently concrete 
explanations while still covering the full spectrum of the problems at 
hand.

It seems that there are several distinct formats of the script discussed 
in the document.  It might be useful to explain the difference between 
them and introduce them more distinctively when going from one to the other.

The ones I noticed:

   1. Symbol/Grapheme code (has dashes)
   2. Coded Character Set (256-929)
   3. Combined Character Sequence
   4. Unicode Integration (Shift of Combined Character Sequence for use
      as Unicode)
   5. Interchange (Another shift.  Why if we already did a shift in the
      previous step?)


It would be useful to explain what each one has in common with the 
previous and in which way it differs.  Maybe a short example throughout 
the whole document would be helpful.


Good work Steve


Wish you the best when you present it.

Looking forward to your comments.


Jonathan



On 12/23/2010 7:44 PM, Jonathan wrote:
>
>
> On 12/23/2010 7:10 AM, Steve Slevinski wrote:
>> Hi List,
>>
>> I'm about to submit a technical document on encoding the graphemes of 
>> the SignWriting script.  I will be submitting the document New Years 
>> Day.  Although there are a lot of technical details, I'd appreciate 
>> any feedback.
>> http://www.signpuddle.net/draft-slevinski-iswa-2010-pre.html
>>
>> The main body includes sections on the SignWriting script, the 
>> International SignWriting Alphabet 2010, the x-ISWA-2010 coded 
>> character set, and Unicode integration.
>>
>> Appendix A is table data for the ISWA 2010 categories, groups, and 
>> bases.
>>
>> Appendix B is the Binary SignWriting revision 3 reference with 
>> sections on design, validity, and processing.
>>
>> Regards,
>> -Steve
>>
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG -www.avg.com
>> Version: 9.0.872 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3334 - Release Date: 12/23/10 13:34:00
>>
>>    
>
> -- 
>                              _                       ____
>   /\                        | |                     (|   \
> |  |  __   _  _    __, _|_ | |     __,   _  _       |    |        _  _    __   __,   _  _
> |  | /  \_/ |/ |  /  |  |  |/ \   /  |  / |/ |     _|    ||   |  / |/ |  /    /  |  / |/ |
>   \_|/\__/   |  |_/\_/|_/|_/|   |_/\_/|_/  |  |_/  (/\___/  \_/|_/  |  |_/\___/\_/|_/  |  |_/
>    /|
>    \|
>
> email: duncanjonathan at yahoo.ca <mailto:duncanjonathan at yahoo.ca>
> joyoduncan at gmail.com <mailto:joyoduncan at gmail.com>
> Cel: 9784-9775
> Tel: 213-5285
> Skype: yojoduncan
>
> SignWriter Studio <http://www.signwriterstudio.com/>
>

-- 

                             _                       ____
  /\                        | |                     (|   \
|  |  __   _  _    __, _|_ | |     __,   _  _       |    |        _  _    __   __,   _  _
|  | /  \_/ |/ |  /  |  |  |/ \   /  |  / |/ |     _|    ||   |  / |/ |  /    /  |  / |/ |
  \_|/\__/   |  |_/\_/|_/|_/|   |_/\_/|_/  |  |_/  (/\___/  \_/|_/  |  |_/\___/\_/|_/  |  |_/
   /|
   \|

email: duncanjonathan at yahoo.ca <mailto:duncanjonathan at yahoo.ca>
joyoduncan at gmail.com <mailto:joyoduncan at gmail.com>
Cel: 9784-9775
Tel: 213-5285
Skype: yojoduncan

SignWriter Studio <http://www.signwriterstudio.com/>

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