Furifont
A Japanese font that automatically annotates kanji with furigana. It embeds reading data using OpenType ruby features, so kana are displayed automatically at render time without modifying the text or using a markup language.
Timeline (last 90 days)
Furifont is a Japanese font that automatically displays furigana above kanji without modifying the text content or using extra markup.
Furifont uses the ruby mechanism of OpenType font features, pre-embedding kana data for kanji inside the font so that it is displayed automatically at render time.
Furifont sparked a discussion on Hacker News (discussion thread item 50100994).
If font-level ruby uses a fixed mapping, it cannot distinguish the readings of polyphonic characters by context and may produce incorrect ruby; solving this would require more complex linguistic analysis or a context-aware system, which the font itself can hardly implement.
Embedding ruby data for a large number of kanji significantly increases the font file size and may affect web page loading performance, so web use requires weighing ruby accuracy against loading speed.
The most suitable scenarios for Furifont include reading assistance for Japanese learners, typesetting Japanese children's books, and temporary needs to quickly add ruby to Japanese text.
Professional publishers usually still use manually proofread ruby schemes for publication-grade typesetting, because automatic font ruby cannot handle context-dependent reading ambiguity.
Furifont's design concept can be extended to other languages, for example embedding pinyin annotations in Chinese kanji fonts, or providing hangul ruby for Korean hanja.
All Facts (8)
Furifont's design concept can be extended to other languages, for example embedding pinyin annotations in Chinese kanji fonts, or providing hangul ruby for Korean hanja.
50%UnverifiedFurifont uses the ruby mechanism of OpenType font features, pre-embedding kana data for kanji inside the font so that it is displayed automatically at render time.
50%UnverifiedFurifont is a Japanese font that automatically displays furigana above kanji without modifying the text content or using extra markup.
50%UnverifiedIf font-level ruby uses a fixed mapping, it cannot distinguish the readings of polyphonic characters by context and may produce incorrect ruby; solving this would require more complex linguistic analysis or a context-aware system, which the font itself can hardly implement.
50%UnverifiedEmbedding ruby data for a large number of kanji significantly increases the font file size and may affect web page loading performance, so web use requires weighing ruby accuracy against loading speed.
50%UnverifiedThe most suitable scenarios for Furifont include reading assistance for Japanese learners, typesetting Japanese children's books, and temporary needs to quickly add ruby to Japanese text.
50%UnverifiedProfessional publishers usually still use manually proofread ruby schemes for publication-grade typesetting, because automatic font ruby cannot handle context-dependent reading ambiguity.
50%UnverifiedFurifont sparked a discussion on Hacker News (discussion thread item 50100994).
50%