AW: AW: sharp s (Eszett)

Martin Duerst duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp
Thu Mar 13 09:56:43 CET 2008


Hello Mark,

At 04:12 08/03/12, Mark Davis wrote:
>It is not just a matter of "typographic convenience": the recognized standard German uppercase of "$B%F](B is "SS". Unicode did not invent this relationship -- it is just following recognized German standards. In German orthography $B%F](Bis not just an ordinary letter like any other. If in normal use $B%F](Bwere caseless, or if $B%F](Bhad a unique uppercase, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But it is not normal.

It is exactly the fact that sharp s is not normal that is the reason for
this discussion, and the reason we have to (re)examine this case closely.
When you say "Unicode did not invent this relationship", it sounds as if
you try to defend Unicode against some criticism. Such criticism would be
highly inappropriate. The main question is not whether the relevant table/
data file is correct or not, but whether it's appropriate for the situation
at hand.


>2. Case insensitivity. If we make this exception, then uppercasing a domain name causes it to go to a different place. Even if there were no compatibility issue, there is still the issue of whether it is more important to have $B%F](Bor to have case-insensitivity.

In the long term, the last few words express the core question very well,
but I'd make it a bit more precise: the issue is whether it is more
important to have sharp s as such or to have sharp s be part of case-insensitivity.

>While it would be possible to have an exception for $B%F]
(B both of these issues need to be considered very carefully, and we should not make any decision lightly.

Fully agreed.


>Any proposal for an exception for $B%F](Breally should get consensus from a broad set of stakeholders, including DENIC, <http://NIC.AT>NIC.AT, and SWITCH, as well as the standards bodies DIN, $B%FK/(B, and SNV.

I hope the registries can provide some input (including what user feedback
they received since 2003). I don't see the standard bodies as particularly
important. Having some well-designed user experiments might be extremely
helpful.

Regards,   Martin.



#-#-#  Martin J. Du"rst, Assoc. Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-#-#  http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp       mailto:duerst at it.aoyama.ac.jp     



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