[questions/qa-what-is-encoding] Font and character sets

[xfq]

https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-what-is-encoding#fonts

A given font will usually cover a single character set, or in the case of a large character set like Unicode, just a subset of all the characters in the set.

Most fonts are now designed for (a subset of) Unicode rather than covering a full character set, so this sentence could be updated (maybe only the second half of the sentence is enough?).

[andjc]

Although designed for Unicode, could mean following Unicode specification, using PUA for unencoded scripts, overlaying an existing block for unencoded scripts, or changing character assignments within a block. The last two being examples of pseudo-Unicode solutions.

Although content in some languages is still predominately in legacy encodings.

[xfq]

Although designed for Unicode, could mean following Unicode specification, using PUA for unencoded scripts, overlaying an existing block for unencoded scripts, or changing character assignments within a block. The last two being examples of pseudo-Unicode solutions.

Although content in some languages is still predominately in legacy encodings.

Thanks @andjc. I think this situation is not common for most users, and given that this article is aimed at beginners and this sentence says "usually" (instead of "always"), I think it's OK not to mention it here.

[andjc]

@xfq that is true, and following that user scenario and considering browsers assume that all fonts are Unicode fonts, it probably would be better to rewrite it simply as:

A given font will cover a subset of Unicode characters.

Although considering most web fonts are subsetted anyway, its probably also true the font may not include all characters in a specific script, nor contain all the glyphs needed for all the languages written in that script.

I know on government sites here it is common to see ransom note effects for community languages written in the Latin script, and there are likely only three, maybe four Latin script fonts available capable of near full support for the Latin script.

[r12a]

When referring to a 'character set' in that text the article is NOT referring to a 'charset', nor a 'code page', etc. It refers to a group of characters used for a particular purpose (as defined in the article), such as all the characters needed to write Malayalam. The Unicode character set referred to is the Unicode Standard repertoire as a whole - and fonts usually address the needs of only a subset of Unicode at a time. A typical font will however support all the characters needed for use of, say, Malayalam - ie. the character set required to write that language.

[xfq]

Fair enough. Closing. Thank you!