Re: better glyph for U+00B0 (DEGREE SIGN)

[pertusus]

On Fri, Nov 11, 2022 at 12:03:11PM +0000, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> >> ```
> >> \input texinfo
> >> 
> >> @code{45°}
> >> 
> >> @code{45@textdegree{}}
> >> 
> >> @bye
> >> ```
> > 
> > It is better to be consistent in my opinion.
> 
> Consistent with what exactly?

to have ° and @textdegree{} give the same output with Texinfo TeX.

> > Here is a proposed patch, it does not use @textdegree but leads to
> > the same output as @textdegree{}.  It fails in @math{}, but the
> > preceding mapping also failed in @math.
> 
> Does this map back to U+00B0 for cut and paste?

No.  But neither does the current output, which uses ringaccent and
therefore maps to the corresponding character 'COMBINING RING ABOVE'
(U+030A).

> 
> >> Of course, the glyph width must be adjusted for typewriter, which I
> >> haven't done here.
> > 
> > I do not think that it is done for @textdegree{}, nor for many
> > substitutions of non-ascii characters.  The previous mapping got a
> > fixed-width, though, as it used a space accented with a ringaccent.
> 
> Well, I think it is *essential* in typewriter to get the same width as
> all other glyphs if entered as U+00BO.  Otherwise code listings look
> bad.  In other words, there is a difference between entering U+00B0
> and `@textdegree{}`: The former *must* be fixed-width, the latter
> can be non-fixed-width also.
> 
> AFAICS, your patch doesn't do that, so I disagree with it.

You probably disagree with many renderings of similar characters, then
as the rendering is based on math mode, and in many case does not lead
to fixed width characters (for U+00AE, U+00B1, U+00B2, U+00B3...).

-- 
Pat