Can authoring using graphics = no localisation.

["Mark Emson" <mt -dot- emson -at- ntlworld -dot- com>]

Hi to you all,

If you have any knowledge or an interest in communicating with graphics,
please read on.


As part of my personal interests and as an aside to my normal authoring
work, I am looking into role of authoring/reading texts that contain
only/mainly graphics. This may seem a little odd at first but nearly
everywhere you look we see and recognise a graphic that has a textual
equivalent.
What I am interested in doing is expanding and developing the range of
simple graphical characters & font sets that can be used to construct
meaningful instructions. As you know, nearly every PC has a set of fonts
such as Dingbats or Webdings but is there room for more.

Instructions represented by a single character can be read, possibly, by
most nationalities throughout the world.
For example, the character of:
A pair of scissors on a dotted line = cut along this line.
A telephone = this is a telephone number.

If simple instruction can be understood in this way, why can't we link these
characters together? Well obviously we already do, especially on information
signs.
A telephone and an arrow = the telephone is in this direction.

I'm sure you know what I mean and how an extended library of characters
could be used to construct texts that could be understood by all
nationalities, regardless of spoken language.
There could be a font set for the automotive industry, another for the
airlines, another still for consumer goods. These areas already use symbols
extensively in their publications and on equipment but, as far as I am
aware, these symbols are 'drawn' graphics rather than font characters.

Would there be an advantage to using a word processor and simply typing
these characters? I feel that there would.

If you have any feelings on the topic please contact me to discuss your
thoughts. Maybe you know of similar work already in progress or work that
has failed. Whatever your slant on the subject, good or bad, I would really
appreciate the input.


Project Plan:

Put a web site on line to explain the idea more clearly.
Develop one full font set of characters.
Develop grammatical rules for using the characters.
Publish a demonstration document containing no "spoken" language.
Publish a commercial document using the characters.
Develop further character sets.


Thank you for reading this far and thank you for your interest.

Mark Emson.

mt -dot- emsom -at- ntlworld -dot- com











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