| Table of Contents |
|---|
...
Correct ordering of components in Khmer orthographical syllables is essential in ensuring correct rendering of Khmer text, as well as in safeguarding reliable search and sort functions in software. Unfortunately, “[t]he implementation of Khmer Unicode differs from font to font and from operating system to operating system,” at least according to the 2012 document The Mondulkiri Font Family bundled with version 7.1 of the Mondulkiri fonts archive, available from SIL. This means that while Unicode-encoded textual data is generally speaking stable, this may not be the case with Khmer texts, and users should be aware of this possibility.
When problems with Khmer text are detected, either because a proofreading author has to mark some corrections consistently, or because a typesetter suddenly notices Khmer text ‘breaking’ and dotted circles (◌) cropping up, the first thing to check is the encoding of the troublesome characters.
To fix any encoding errors, a standard order of syllabic components must be (re)established; the first reliable source for a standard order is, of course, the text of The Unicode Standard, in the chapter and section dealing with the Khmer script (in the current [Jan., 20182022] version 1014.0, chapter 16 “Southeast Asia,” section 4 “Khmer,” pp. 639ff669ff.). An extended document with some improvements on the Unicode Standard definition of the Khmer orthographical syllable is published by SIL, to accompany SIL’s Mondulkiri fonts: The order of components in Khmer orthographical syllables bundled with version 7.1 of the Mondulkiri fonts archive.
...
