unicode in VPE

[DriesFeys]

Hello,

I read somewhere on the site / forum you're planning to release a "real" unicode version by the end of this year (q4 2011). Is this timing still valid and is there a bétaversion available (we're using an ancient version for the moment)

Thanks in advance!

[IDEAL Software Support]

The Unicode version is currently frozen. The problem is that we need a cross-platform Unicode Text Rendering Engine. This is required to guarantee identical layout (word-, line- and page-breaks) throughout all supported platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris). Otherwise a document created for example on Windows will neither be displayed identically nor correctly on a different platform.

The Open Source community is promising since about 3 years to finish a library, which will replace all rudimentary and buggy libraries that exist today. Unfortunately it is not finished yet and there is no documentation for what has been done so far. If we'd use an existing library now, it is a dead-end, since it will be obsolete and not maintained in the future. We have to wait until it is done.