Mac OS 8.5 Technote: Part XI

Copyright 1998 by Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging)

Unicode is a character set which encodes the characters of many languages in a flat 16-bit number space. ATSUI extends the QuickDraw API and makes it possible for Mac OS applications to draw Unicode text. ATSUI provides both low-level services for drawing Unicode text as well as much of the high-end typographical control previously provided by QuickDraw GX.
  • Provides text imaging services for 16-bit Unicode (UTF-16).

  • ATSUI fully conforms to The Unicode Standard, Version 2.1.

  • ATSUI fully supports the Unicode bidirectional algorithm, including the bidirectional ordering codes.

  • ATSUI text-drawing can be integrated within a QuickDraw-only application (unlike QuickDraw GX, ATSUI does not require developers to adopt a non-QuickDraw API for all text drawing).

  • For fonts which lack a Unicode 'cmap' table, ATSUI will automatically generate one "on the fly". The font file is not modified, but the conversion makes certain assumptions about character encodings. For best results, it is recommend that Japanese fonts include a Unicode 'cmap'.

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