ISWA 2010

International SignWriting Alphabet 2010

Font Reference

Version 1.10.0
September 16th, 2014

This Font Software is Copyright (c) 1974-2014
Center For Sutton Movement Writing, Inc.

Available under the Open Font License

The symbols in the International SignWriting Alphabet 2010 (ISWA 2010) were designed by SignWriting inventor, Valerie Sutton (sutton@signwriting.org).

The symbols were transformed by Stephen E Slevinski Jr (slevin@signpuddle.net).



SignWriting Asset Provider    |    Unicode 8    |    Symbol Font Development    |    2D Layout with Graphite    |    SignWriting Icon Server    |    ISWA 2010 Fonts




SignWriting Asset Provider

SWAP uses a database for SVG images and API data.

SQLite 3 Database with Font Variations

Includes ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement, ISWA 2010 SVG Smooth, and ISWA 2010 SVG Angular: download , 7.5 MB zipped, 84 MB unzipped

SQLite 3 Database Minimum

Includes ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement: download , 2.1 MB zipped, 32 MB unzipped

Data Files

Data files are text files with one symbol per line.

SVG Refinement Font 1.1 MB zipped, 24 MB unzipped

SVG Smooth Font 1.8 MB zipped, 19 MB unzipped

SVG Angular Font 1.4 MB zipped, 17 MB unzipped

Symbol sizes 92 KB zipped, 530 KB unzipped




SignWriting Approved for Unicode 8

The SignWriting symbols as described in the ISWA 2010 will be included in Unicode 8 released in 2015. Every symbol of the ISWA 2010 can be identified with 1, 2, or 3 Unicode characters on plane 1.

The Unicode 8 specification will not include the layout characters of SignWriting Text; therefore, it is impossible to properly name a sign with Unicode 8 alone. For the 2-dimensional structures and placement, either a lite ASCII markup can be used or the Unicode Private Use Area characters on plane 15 can be used.

Currently there is no font available for the Unicode 8 specification of the SignWriting symbols. Before the official specification is published, I hope we can complete this project. The data above is freely available for use. If you can donate your time, please dive into the project. If you know the right tools, please drop me a line. (slevin@signpuddle.net)

Review the SignWriting Font Test Page for more details and specifics.

ResourceSizeNotes
ISWA 2010 SVG Glyphs with Unicode 8 names 1.1 MB zipped, 24 MB unzipped Text file with 37,811 lines, 1 per ISWA 2010 symbol. Each line starts with the Unicode 8 name, followed by a tab, followed by the SVG definition.
OpenType Feature File for Unicode 8 170 KB zipped, 1.2 MB unzipped Text file with 37,813 lines, 2 lines to open and close the liga feature and 1 line per ISWA 2010 symbol. Each line starts with the Unicode 8 name and maps to the ISWA 2010 glyph name as the symbol key.




Symbol Font Development

Font development continues with FontForge. This section is incomplete and the font is unfinished. I will be adding resource files as I build. I will document commands that work with FontForge. I will list the completed fonts as they occur.

SVG Glyphs

The ISWA 2010 contains 37,811 individual symbols. Every symbol is defined with a 2-color SVG. The primary color of a symbol is the line that shows the shape of the symbol. The secondary color of a symbol is the fill that is important when symbols overlap. When symbols overlap, the fill of the symbol on top should cover the line of the symbol underneath. The secondary color can be set to the background color to blend a sign image on the page.

For a 2-color font, there are 37,811 glyphs in the set.

For a 1-color font, there are 37,811 glyphs for the lines and an additional 25,429 glyphs for the fill.

Each symbol of the ISWA 2010 is available as a variety of SVG files named after the symbol key.

Unified SVG, 2 ColorsLine SVGFill SVG, WhiteFill SVG, Black
ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement 37,811 files
18.3 MB zipped
37,811 files
17 MB zipped
25,429 files
9.3 MB zipped
25,429 files
9.3 MB zipped
ISWA 2010 SVG Smooth 37,811 files
17.2 MB zipped
37,811 files
15.6 MB zipped
25,429 files
9.3 MB zipped
25,429 files
9.3 MB zipped
ISWA 2010 SVG Angular 37,811 files
16.3 MB zipped
37,811 files
14.9 MB zipped
25,429 files
9 MB zipped
25,429 files
9 MB zipped

TrueType Outlines

TrueType Outlines do not include color. For symbols that use both the line color and the fill color, 2 glyphs must be defined. Using FontForge, the SVG files above can be imported into a font.


OpenType Features

OpenType Features are included to map the various names of the symbols to the appropriate glyphs.


ResourceSizeNotes
OpenType Feature File for Unicode 8 170 KB zipped, 1.2 MB unzipped Text file with 37,813 lines, 2 lines to open and close the liga feature and 1 line per ISWA 2010 symbol. Each line starts with the Unicode 8 name and maps to the ISWA 2010 glyph name as the symbol key.
OpenType Feature File for Unicode PUA 180 KB zipped, 1.2 MB unzipped Text file with 37,813 lines, 2 lines to open and close the liga feature and 1 line per ISWA 2010 symbol. Each line starts with the Unicode Private Use Area name and maps to the ISWA 2010 glyph name as the symbol key.
OpenType Feature File for ASCII symbol keys 170 KB zipped, 1.1 MB unzipped Text file with 37,813 lines, 2 lines to open and close the liga feature and 1 line per ISWA 2010 symbol. Each line starts with the symbol key characters and maps to the ISWA 2010 glyph name as the symbol key.

Post Font Packaging

After the initial fonts are available, TransType 4 will be used to combine and package the 2-color fonts and other font .




2D Layout with Graphite

Available for review is a working prototype of a smart font technology that uses Graphite with TrueType outlines and OpenType features to fully support the 2-dimensional layout of individual signs.

TrueType Font

Smart font development by Eduardo Trapani: iswa.ttf, 6.1MB Github Source

Graphite

The TrueType Font works with Graphite

Graphite in Firefox

If Graphite is not already enabled in FireFox, you can follow these instructions to enable Graphite in the Firefox Browser.

TrueType Font example

After enabling Graphite in the Firefox Browser, view the test pages:

online font example

locally installed font example

Presentation

Constructing a TrueType Font for the SignWriting Script with Unicode Characters Using the Graphite Rendering System

Presented at the SignWriting Symposium 2014* on Day 2, time marker 25:55.

*Celebrating 40 years of writing with 40 presentations from 12 countries.




SignWriting Icon Server

SWIS uses a database or filesystem for images in a variety of formats.

Currently running Wikimedia Labs and SignBank with Github source.

SQLite 3 Database with PNG Only

Includes png1: download , 3.6 MB zipped, 8.6 MB unzipped

SQLite 3 Database with Basic PNG and SVG

Includes png1 and svg1: download , 5 MB zipped, 42 MB unzipped

SQLite 3 Database with Complete PNG and SVG

Includes png1, png2, png3, png4, svg1, svg2, svg3, svg4, svg5, txt1: download , 29 MB zipped, 216 MB unzipped

SQLite Database Scripts

Database design

Main ISWA 2010 Data about SymbolGroups, BaseSymbols, and Symbols: download

English language names for Categories, SymbolGroups, and BaseSymbols: download




ISWA 2010 Fonts

The fonts are available in primarily 2 formats: either database script or filesystem directory. A third format, the data file, is available for certain SVG fonts. The SVG in the data files has been further refined with class names and normalized structures.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 Sutton

Valerie Sutton's original PNGS, single directory, file names by symbol ID: filesystem

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PNG Standard

Portable Network Graphic with black line, white fill, transparent background: filesystem or database

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PNG Inverse

Portable Network Graphic with white line, black fill, transparent background: filesystem or database

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PNG Shadow

Portable Network Graphic with black line, black fill, transparent background: filesystem or database

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PNG Colorized

Portable Network Graphic with colorized line, white fill, transparent background: filesystem or database

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PBM Line

Portable Bitmap for line: filesystem or database

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PBM Fill

Portable Bitmap for fill: filesystem or database.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 PBM Shadow

Portable Bitmap for shadow: filesystem or database.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 ASCII

2 dimensional ASCII character grid: filesystem or database.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement

Individual Symbol Refinement by Adam Frost: filesystem or database or data file.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Line Trace

Polygon tracing with line and fill: filesystem or database.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Shadow Trace

Polygon tracing with shadow and fill: filesystem or database.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Smooth

Smooth polygon tracing: filesystem or database or data file.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Angular

Angular polygon tracing: filesystem or database or data file.

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 Hand Photo

Real life hand photos by Adam Frost: filesystem.




Filesystem Data

readme, directory and download




Derivative ISWA 2010 Fonts

Derivative fonts are conceptually compatible, but are not supported directly in SignPuddle or the SignWriting Icon Server.

These two fonts were imagined and created by Jonatha Duncan. An original encoding, each symbol was analyzed for repeating shapes or peices. Each type of peices was only encoded once. Each symbol can be constructed with the common peices using XLink with Cartesian coordinates in SVG. His work is available on his SignWriting Studio download page.

Here are the numbers he is reporting.

FontSQLiteTextSQLite Percentage of SVG RefinementText Percentage of SVG Refinement
uncompressed (MB)compressed (MB)uncompressed (MB)compressed (MB)uncompressed (MB)compressed (MB)uncompressed (MB)compressed (MB)
ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement 26.4 1.73 24 1.1 100% 100% 100% 100%
ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement Refactored 9.73 1.63 13.1 1.63 37% 94% 55% 148%
ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement Refactored Tiny 6.93 1.53 10.2 1.25 26% 88% 43% 114%

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement Refactored

Uses <DEF> and xlink: download archive

Reserved Font Name ISWA 2010 SVG Refinement Refactored Tiny

Uses <DEF> and xlink with smaller in memory footprint: download archive





To Do:


Version History: