Re: Font layouts

Christophe Grandsire wrote:

>         When you talked of the 'tremendous beauty' of the Arabic alphabet,
> you made me realize that when I'm trying to create a writing, I always begin
> trying to make something as beatiful as the Arabic alphabet. There are many
> reasons for that:
> - I'm left-handed, so writing from right to left is easier for me than from
> left to right.
> - The first step when I create a new writing is to make 'arabesques' (still
> Arabic!) in order to find ideas. I think the Arabic alphabet is the most
> near to that kind of 'automatic writing'.
> - I think the Arabic alphabet is the best example for linked letters
> handwriting (unhappily, my own writings are generally too much 'squared' to
> allow such handwriting).
>
I'm also left-handed (have we stumbled on another piece in the jigsaw
puzzle of why people become conlangers - perhaps Sally could ask a
final, final question on this aspect :)

All you say about Arabic I agree with. I guess, at least partly, the
Islamic frowning on representative art and the abstract/calligraphic art
that has inspired in mosques, etc., may explain why so much energy has
gone into developing a range of beautiful fonts and calligraphic styles
for Arabic.