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diff --git a/gfx/graphite2/README.md b/gfx/graphite2/README.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..2c4ecf58d --- /dev/null +++ b/gfx/graphite2/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +# Graphite engine + +## What is Graphite? + +Graphite is a system that can be used to create “smart fonts” capable of displaying writing systems with various complex behaviors. A smart font contains not only letter shapes but also additional instructions indicating how to combine and position the letters in complex ways. + +Graphite was primarily developed to provide the flexibility needed for minority languages which often need to be written according to slightly different rules than well-known languages that use the same script. + +Examples of complex script behaviors Graphite can handle include: + +* contextual shaping +* ligatures +* reordering +* split glyphs +* bidirectionality +* stacking diacritics +* complex positioning +* shape aware kerning +* automatic diacritic collision avoidance + +See [examples of scripts with complex rendering](http://scripts.sil.org/CmplxRndExamples). + +## Graphite system overview +The Graphite system consists of: + +* A rule-based programming language [Graphite Description Language](http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=projects&item_id=graphite_devFont#gdl) (GDL) that can be used to describe the behavior of a writing system +* A compiler for that language +* A rendering engine that can serve as the layout component of a text-processing application + +Graphite renders TrueType fonts that have been extended by means of compiling a GDL program. + +Further technical information is available on the [Graphite technical overview](http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=projects&item_id=graphite_techAbout) page. |