Re: ptex & zw (was Re: [OS X TeX] Kanbun (漢文) and French...)

[Jean-Christophe Helary]

On lundi 05 janv. 09, at 00:17, Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:

> On dimanche 04 janv. 09, at 22:12, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
>
>> Am 04.01.2009 um 13:45 schrieb Jean-Christophe Helary:
>>
>>> I am downloading the uptex package at the moment. I had seen the  
>>> kanbun.sty and sfkanbun.sty files references on the Japanese pages  
>>> and was considering to use them. I have no idea though how to  
>>> "adapt them to XeteX". But I'll certainly take a look.
>>
>> The kanbun packages use the pTeX only dimension zw and you have
>> to replace it with a normal TeX dimension.
>
> Ok, I've noticed where the zw was used in the sty files. I'll check  
> more later tomorrow, it is way past bed time !

Wolfgang,

I've eventually found out what zw stood for. It looks like an  
equivalent to em but refers to a square in which the letter is rather  
than to the letter itself...

So, after searching a little bit more today, I eventually found a  
number of very interesting related papers on the web:

Typesetting CJK languages with Omega (2004)
http://project.ktug.or.kr/omega-cjk/tug2004-preprint.pdf

pTEX and Japanese Typesetting (2008)
http://ajt.ktug.kr/assets/2008/5/1/0201okumura.pdf
(Okumura suggests _not_ using upTeX though.)

Also, thanks to the last issue of PracTeX Journal, I found this recent  
French book where the concept of boxes is explained in great details:

« Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur LaTeX sans jamais  
oser le demander »
http://www.framabook.org/latex.html

So, I now understand a little bit what the sfkanbun.sty file is about  
but it is definitely way beyond my abilities to redefine sw so that it  
fits XeTeX.

I've eventually resorted to ask for advice on Mr. Okumura's Japanese  
TeX forum and I'm sure I'll have more information so that I can  
proceed with my book.

漢文についてのフランス語の本をどうすればいいと思 
われますか？
http://oku.edu.mie-u.ac.jp/tex/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=230


I'll report here when I have something concrete.



Jean-Christophe Helary