Once you typed in the letter "a", the computer encodes that key press and stores it in memory as ASCII character number 61, and then you can change fonts in your program to customize how that specific ASCII character is rendered, as an Alpha or an Aleph or a goofy glyph from Zapf Dingbats if you so desire. Each different font (Helena, SuperGreek, Graeca, TekniaGreek, SBL Greek, etc.) had its own unique character associations, although the primary letters were mostly the same: an "a" became an Alpha a "b" became a Beta. In order to achieve the correct appearance, we would switch the font of the Greek text to a font that used Greek character forms. If you're running OS 8 or 9, have a look here to get you started.)įor years, we typed our Greek (and Hebrew) with the same ASCII characters we use for English (or other indigenous language). (If the Unicode characters on this web page are not displaying correctly, and you're using OS X, use Safari or Firefox, not Explorer. I will later move towards "trying things out" on your computer. The level of discussion is designed for the bible scholar who considers themselves a non-techie- whose response to Unicode so far has mostly been, "Uni-what?" This first article centers only on beginning concepts, in contrast to the old system we are familiar with. Also, while the examples I give center on Greek, they could easily use Hebrew or any other language as well. However, this conceptual introduction will be helpful to those using other OSes, including Windows. A more precise title of this document might be "An Introduction to Unicode Greek on Mac OS X". I have in mind scholars who have had little success understanding or appreciating the movement to Unicode fonts and texts in their work. This articles walks through the concept of Unicode as a means for handling Greek (and Hebrew, as well).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |