[Groff] Re: unicode support, part 10: \[shc] and the soft hyphen in HTML

[Bruno Haible]

Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> > > Under normal circumstances, `shc' is never a glyph in groff.
>
> OK.  Additionally, I'll completely remove the remaining traces of an
> `shc' glyph.

Oops, maybe we will want to use it for hyphenation in the HTML browser?
I mean, groff with devutf8 device could generate HTML containing ­
elements, leaving the line breaking and hyphenation to the browser.

This is how ­ is intended to be used in HTML; see
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/text.html#h-9.3.3

This is not useful for the moment: A simple test with the attached file
shows that
  - konqueror 3.1 shows a hyphen for every ­ - this is incorrect.
  - Mozilla 1.7.8 makes all ­ invisible, and does line breaking without
    hyphenation; this is correct but not interesting.
  - Internet Explorer 6.0 does correctly hyphenate.

But it could be useful 5 years from now...

Bruno