[b-hebrew] PDF file of biblical Hebrew text wanted.
Peter Bekins
pbekins at fuse.net
Mon Feb 4 19:55:46 EST 2008
On Feb 4, 2008, at 1:30 AM, b-hebrew-request at lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
> I've generated biblical Hebrew text with the SBL Hebrew font from
> Open Office on Windows 2000 and exported it in both PDF (Thanks,
> Karl) and ODF formats to Mac OS X 10.5.1. Neither format has
> satisfactory rendering on Mac OS X.
>
> The result is comparable to Firefox 3.0b2's HTML rendering.
>
> To get high quality rendering of biblical Hebrew text on Mac OS X
> 10.5.1, simply buy VMware Fusion ($100) and the Microsoft operating
> system of your choice ($200++), and operate virtually!
>
> Chris Kimball
> Redding, CT
I responded to Chris Kimball off-list, but he suggested that I also
send a response to the list in case anyone is interested.
The issue with rendering the biblical Hebrew text with Masoretic
pointing on Mac OS X is only indirectly related to the operating
system, it is more specifically an issue with the fonts. Fonts such
as SBL Hebrew and Ezra SIL were designed using Microsoft's OpenType
format for the "typesetting" rules. Apple has its own "typesetting"
format called ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging).
These rules allow a font designer to specify where exactly the points
should be placed for all the possible combinations. When you use a
Unicode text in a native Mac application with one of these OpenType
fonts the program can render the base forms of the letters and
points, but it does not understand any of the rules of where to place
the points in different contexts. Thus, holem will not be centered
over a waw, shewa always occurs in the center of the glyph rather
than under the "stem" of dalet or resh, accents will will be drawn on
top of vowels if their default positions are the same, etc.
There are two solutions for Mac users. The first is to implement
OpenType within a Mac application, which is what the creators of
Mellel have done for us. The second is for someone to develop an
ATSUI font similar to SBL Hebrew. There are a few fonts that ship
with the Mac, such as Lucida Grande and Raanana, that seem to have
some logic for placing the points, but neither are comprehensive nor
do they look sufficiently elegant (IMHO) for rendering the biblical
text.
As for pdf's, if the application that is creating the pdf is OpenType
aware (which I believe Adobe products should be), SBL Hebrew should
render correctly and appear correctly whether the file is opened on a
PC or Mac. However, if you are creating the pdf from a file using a
script or some other program that is not OpenType aware then the
pointing will not be done correctly.
This is also an issue with Syriac and Arabic since these scripts use
contextual characters based on where they occur within the word and
what the surrounding letters are. The only Unicode font for Syriac
that I am aware of, Estrangelo, uses the OpenType format and
therefore doesn't render correctly on Mac unless you are using
Mellel. Arabic is used widely enough to have an Apple font.
Peter Bekins
Grad Student - Hebrew Bible and Comparative Semitics
Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, OH
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