Posted by: avexdotst
BIG5 - Chinese Font ID Tag - 04/02/2002 23:27
I would like to know if the EMPEG mk2 support/displays BIG5 Chinese font.. will it display propely?
BIG5 - Chinese Font ID Tag
Posted by: hybrid8
Re: BIG5 - Chinese Font ID Tag - 05/02/2002 00:22
No.
If you could make a meaningful 8bit Chinese font (itself a challenge) then you could easily replace the stock fonts on the player. But now your menus won't make sense because they still need the latin font. So, you're left with creating a 7bit Chinese font (that's only 128 characters...) And if that's not enough trouble for you... Try creating that type of font that fits within the limited number of pixels you're working with (even if you increase the size of the default fonts).
Of course, if the empeg guys ever decide to put in support for alternate (including higher-bit) fonts, it would be a possibility to have a wide selection. Unfortunately, for symbolic-types such as Chinese (Japanese, Korean, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, etc...) you're going to have a hard time cramming anything meaningful into a set small enough to be very useful. For example, the Latin medium font in all the Info modes is 9 pixels tall - that's from the bottom of the lowest decender ("y" "j" "g") to the tops of any of the capitals ("A" "B" etc..) - each CAP is only 7 pixels tall. Making latin characters in the small font is already stressing it.
In short: I woulnd't hold my breath for Chinese font support. Maybe if you can work an OEM deal that will put a few hundred thousand players into China. Hey, I'd make a Chinese font myself with those kinds of numbers.
Bruno
If you could make a meaningful 8bit Chinese font (itself a challenge) then you could easily replace the stock fonts on the player. But now your menus won't make sense because they still need the latin font. So, you're left with creating a 7bit Chinese font (that's only 128 characters...) And if that's not enough trouble for you... Try creating that type of font that fits within the limited number of pixels you're working with (even if you increase the size of the default fonts).
Of course, if the empeg guys ever decide to put in support for alternate (including higher-bit) fonts, it would be a possibility to have a wide selection. Unfortunately, for symbolic-types such as Chinese (Japanese, Korean, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, etc...) you're going to have a hard time cramming anything meaningful into a set small enough to be very useful. For example, the Latin medium font in all the Info modes is 9 pixels tall - that's from the bottom of the lowest decender ("y" "j" "g") to the tops of any of the capitals ("A" "B" etc..) - each CAP is only 7 pixels tall. Making latin characters in the small font is already stressing it.
In short: I woulnd't hold my breath for Chinese font support. Maybe if you can work an OEM deal that will put a few hundred thousand players into China. Hey, I'd make a Chinese font myself with those kinds of numbers.
Bruno