What is the difference between Unicode fonts and other fonts?
(First, for “What is a Unicode Font” see the Font FAQ.) The font would need to contain a glyph for each allocated code point of the script. For example, Gujarati would contain glyphs for the allocated code points in the range: U+0A80 – U+0AFF. In addition to these, the font should have: (a) glyphs for conjuncts; (b) variants for vowel signs (matras), vowel modifiers (Chandrabindu, Anuswar), the consonant modifier (Nukta); (c) digits and any appropriate punctuation marks (perhaps some that are appropriate from the Latin ranges). The contents of (a) and (b) depend not only on the typographical quality the font is intended to achieve but also whether the font has glyphs just in contemporary use or also includes those used in traditional formats. The contents of (a) and (b) can be accessed by providing a Glyph Substitution table in the font. Such a table is more often than not a necessity for Indic scripts. A Glyph Positioning table is also a need for achieving the minimal required mark po
