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Problems of Arabic typefaces for Macintosh users

This article is concerned with the problems of Arabic typefaces for Mac. The fonts in question are basically those available to Quark Arabic users. Quark Arabic is still the main DTP application used by designers and publishing houses and thus the fonts that are bundled with it play a very important role in the field of Arabic typography. The problems are categorized into two kinds. The first is related to indirect problems such as culture and identity, the complex writing system, and the complex grammar, and the second is related to design and technical problems.

I- Indirect Problems

1- Complexity of the Arabic script

The Arabic script is considered to be complex to read, write, or design. This stems from a few factors:

a- Context sensitivity; joining and non-joining characters:

The Arabic script is a joining one. Except for 6 characters that join only to the preceding ones, all other characters join to other characters on both sides. By way of design, dual-joining characters have 4 different glyphs for their representation: isolated, initial, medial, and final. Right-joining characters have 2 glyphs: isolated (=initial) and final (=medial).

Context sensitivity implies that the character set is at least 4 times the actual number of characters (excluding all the ligatures needed for true calligraphic representation) and that special attention needs to be given to ensure the fact that all characters “appear” as if belonging to one long continuous stroke.

To the reader, the changing forms of each character means adding an extra memory tax and mental work to the correct identification of characters and words.

b- The use of dots:

Of the 28 characters in Arabic, 17 have basic forms and the rest are variations made by adding dots above or below the characters. The same procedure of adding dots to make new characters (of different phonemes from the Arabic ones) was used for extended Arabic used in Persian, Pushto, Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Ottoman Turkish, old Malayan, Swahili, and Croatian. The result makes the text look like one long freckled stroke. Having less basic shapes to design makes the designer’s task somehow easier but creates very strong legibility problems where the presence of too many dots can lead to confusion, especially for new readers.

c- The use of diacritics:

Like other Semitic scripts, Arabic is a consonantal alphabet. Vowels, which are usually left out, are represented as diacritical marks (harakat) above or below the character. This makes Arabic close to a shorthand kind of writing. It is left to the reader’s knowledge of the language to be able to mentally guess the vocalization of each word. Or, when the diacritics are actually provided, the reader’s eye will have to keep darting up and down while moving across the line, and thus tiring both the eye and the brain.

2- Complexity of the language and difficulty of learning:

The complexity of the Arabic language (and the intricate grammar rules) combines with the complexity of the script to create a real difficulty for those wishing to learning the language. Arab scholars have pointed, for years now, the fact that the Arabic script is very difficult to learn. Some highly distinguished Arab authors describe the Arabic script as:

Makhoul “highly complicated”

Ashamma’ “does not help in propagating knowledge amongst the young Arabs” and “does not make the culture easy to grasp for foreigners who are eager to learn about it”

and Freiha “it increases the time needed to learn the language” and “puts people off from reading.”

This is no wonder since, as Freiha quite rightly asserts, the Arabic script has evolved to become highly ornamental at the time when this increased ornamentation was there to hide the discrepancy and disproportion in letter sizes. He goes on to say that the Arabic script has become so decorative that reading it has turned into an act of guessing and that the point of writing is not art, or guessing, but communication.

3- Problem of illiteracy

It would be very unscientific if one were to blame the high level of illiteracy on the script. However, after examining what Arabic scholarly literature states, it is highly conceivable to say that the complexity of the script as a factor is positively correlated with the low level of literacy. Of course, by looking at recent statistics, one would realize that the major factor behind the literacy rates is not the complexity of the script. These rates, while the script and language remain the same, have more than doubled for almost all Arab countries. Still, some rates go down to as much as 26.3% literate adults. Put differently, of every 3 women living today in Morocco, only one can read and write.

4- Culture and identity problems

Speaking primarily of the Lebanon, one can find in a large sector of the society a deep rooted wish to be anything but an Arab; namely middle class and upper. Heavily influenced by French and, lately, American examples, the Lebanese society seems to revel in anything Westernised while trying really hard to forget the fact that it is an Arab nation. Being well educated, unfortunately, implies the assimilation of foreign languages and the rejection of the local one. It is not uncommon to find individuals who speak and write better French or English than Arabic. People seem to want to forget about their native tongue. A short walk in the streets of Beirut reveals the predominance of foreign languages over the local one which is perceived to be of lesser value.

5- Design education

Very few books address Arabic typography, let alone Arabic typedesign. Universities in some Arab countries are starting to address the topic but it will be a while before significant results are seen. The awareness that there is a deficiency in the number and quality of Arabic fonts is increasing. One would assume that to be a good sign. It is unfortunate that the solution that many practicing designers and design agencies and studios are coming across is the chopping of existing Latin typefaces and re-arranging the parts to make “Arabic” display fonts. This will be discussed further later on.