A Little History
As the internet has evolved the many formats for displaying graphical information,
various methods have been tried and used for displaying the Blissymbolics language.
These can be summarized as three types of display methods:
1) Image files (JPEG, GIF)
2) Fonts
3) Vector Graphics (VML, and perhaps someday SVG)
As a publisher of Blissymbolics, consider the merits and drawbacks of each method
with respect to the intended audience and purpose of your Bliss documents.
1)
Image files
are the oldest (you could say most primitive) format available,
they are also the most reliable and enduring method if you want to
be sure your bliss documents are viewable into the distant future of
the internet without any need for updating your webpage coding.
A drawback is that you need either a large collection of image files
stored at your website for composing messages or you need to compose each
message as a separate image file. The latter method
(saving each message as one image file)
has the advantage that each message will endure long into the future of
the internet without needing the support of a collection of images,
it can stand alone. For help using this approach,
click BlissMove
on the menu to the left.
2)
Fonts
are another way of displaying symbols,
but they have some drawbacks.
Fonts used for pictographic languages like Chinese and Blissymbolics
tend to be very large files and only users who have downloaded and installed
the fonts can view the symbols.
Most users are not computer-savvy enough to install fonts.
If your intended audience is dedicated to reading your bliss documents,
these obstacles may not be a problem.
Fonts
can be
embedded
by a website so that users have no need to download or install anything
before being able to view the symbols.
A drawback to this method is that embedded fonts must be programmed to
function for each domain (website root url) where they are to be used.
But this is only an obstacle to be overcome by webmasters,
users need not know or do anything to view the symbols.
3)
Vector Graphics
is the most recent (probably the most advanced) method for displaying
Blissymbolics.
Try this method
if you feel like being on the cutting edge.
This approach promises several advantages:
The symbols display with greater clarity than any of the other methods.
No image files or fonts are needed to support this method.
In fact nothing is needed to support this method except the most popular
browser in the world, Internet Explorer, used by 90% of internet users.
Each Bliss Vectors
document is a stand alone HTML page which can be uploaded to any website
or emailed anywhere in the world.
Bliss Webmasters and Software Developers
We all know Blissymbolics users need user friendly software to create Bliss messages.
Publishing Blissymbols on the web or in emails is a daunting task, even for an experienced webmaster.
How can someone new to Bliss get their feet wet trying to write their first messages?
For that matter,
how can experienced Bliss users who are not experienced in writing web content publish their Blissymbolics writings?
We need software that does all the complicated spacing and formatting of symbol messages automatically.
It needs to be truly mistake proof so that the Bliss writer can
concentrate on the message s/he's writing instead of
how to get an indicator to display properly over a symbol,
or other formatting problems that plague Bliss publishers at this time.
And the end product, the Bliss message produced by the software,
needs to be a "stand-alone" document requiring no special software, fonts, files or databases for viewing the symbols.
If you feel the concept demonstrated by the "Bliss Vectors Webpage Maker" is a step in the right direction,
feel free
to use or adapt any part of it for use in your own work.
The methods, code and fonts used to create the
Bliss Vectors Webpage Maker,
the
Blissymbol Web Page and E-mail Editor,
Drag & Drop Blissymbols and
Bliss Move
are hereby released to the public domain by me,
George F. Sutton,
so that anyone,
including professional software developers, may freely re-work or adapt
the code to create software for Blissymbolics users.
VML Now, SVG for the future
While Scalable Vector Graphics may become the prefered graphics format of the future,
SVG is not yet supported by the browsers.
It may be a mistake to put all our eggs in a basket that may not materialize.
It seems sensible to develop Bliss Software using VML for the present time
and research SVG for the future.
There will always be a
next format coming down the pike so we will always
need to be preparing the next generation
Bliss display methods, but we must not forget to improve and maintain the
currently supported methods.
Actually, VML may be the best way now to show the future potential of SVG for
Blissymbolics,
since the SVG vector code is nearly identical to VML code.
Learning and using VML now is not a waste of your time and will make the
transition to SVG nearly effortless.
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