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DecoType Nastaliq

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

DecoType Nastaliq is the latest fruit of more than 25 years of analyzing Arabic scripts in their pure, pre-typographic form. Like its close relative ruq?ah, nastaliq retains the original two-dimensional aspect of Arabic script. To capture this for use in an essentially Latin-based technical environment is a great challenge. The final glyph set consists of a minimal set of functional shapes, with which for all Arabic-scripted languages all imaginable combinations with any diacritic attachment can be generated. This is possible solely with the use of ACE, the Arabic Calligraphic Engine, a radical departure from conventional thinking in Gutenberg-style movable type. ACE was developed by the DecoType team, Thomas Milo, Peter Somers and Mirjam Somers, initially for the ruq?ah script, later it was expanded for a very broad analysis of the naskh script. Today ACE drives any Arabic typeface and is the core engine of WinSoft’s Tasmeem enhancement of Adobe InDesign Middle Eastern version. The seminal rôle of ACE for the development of smart font technology, including OpenType, was recently acknowledged with the Dr Peter Karow Award.? DecoType Nastaliq is dedicated to the memory of John Cooper, Islamic scholar (1947-1998).

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4311108

The Latin portions of the DecoType Nastaliq Specimens are set in Grotext Ultra Light, designed by Karsten Luecke.

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