On Fri, 2006-07-14 at 13:02 -0400, Tony Nelson wrote: > oOØ0ø > > OK, which are which? Small letter o, *probably* capital letter 0, non-English slashed capital O (I do not recall its proper name), *probably* numeral 0, and the small-case slashed o. Though that's not with the font you're talking about, but demonstrating that the clear lack of distinction between numeral 0 and letter O has been an on-going problem for many years in computing. > It's well known already that slash does not distinguish between Oh and > Zero, because of the Slashed Oh (U+00D8 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH > STROKE) used in Europe. In English, it's been a well recognised trend for more years than I can remember, since we don't have a slashed O. Though, as you say, that's a useless technique for anybody who uses that character for its proper purpose. But I've never seen a slashed 0 and an 8 that look *ANYTHING* like each other in any character. On the other hand, I have seen the modern trend of using a centrally-dotted 0 (for zero) be badly distinguishable in some fonts, particularly small sizes. It's a real requirement that people can readily tell an O from an 0, and without having to squint and type characters on your keyboard to discover how your font draws the two differently (i.e. one slightly bigger, or one slightly more rounder, or whatever), if it does. If there's one true problem I've seen with that is fonts that give almost no distinction between them. The other common characters than need good distinctions between each of them are: 1lI| Some fonts are appalling for that. -- (Currently running FC4, occasionally trying FC5.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
