Request: Localized Cyrillic for Bulgarian, Macedonian & Serbian

[cssobral2013]

Currently, Inter uses default traditional Cyrillic for all Cyrillic languages.

[rsms]

For this to be actionable, we need details on what it means to localize for these languages. What glyphs (Unicode codepoints) need special treatment and what are some canonical, reliable reference designs

[kenmcd]

Some info to get you started...

Bulgarian Cyrillic Localization

Changes 16 roman characters and 7 italic characters.
(usually, may be more, see article)
Roman: Л, Ф, в, г, д, ж, и, й, к, л, п, т, ц, ш, щ, ю
Italic: Л, Ф, в, д, ж, к, ю

Something I have been working on ...

It is a work-in-progress, but that first page gives you a quick overview.

Source Serif 4 and Source Sans 3 both include Bulgarian localization. It is done in calt - so you can look at those fonts.
https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-sans/releases
Also...
Bitter Pro (slabserif)
https://github.com/solmatas/BitterPro
FiraGo (sans serif)
https://github.com/bBoxType/FiraGO
Montserrat (sans serif)
https://github.com/JulietaUla/Montserrat
Sofia Sans - default is Bulgarian, includes RUS localization
https://github.com/vv-monsalve/Sofia-Sans

Good article about Bulgarian localization:
What shall be done for Bulgarian Cyrillic .loclBGR
https://www.lettersoup.de/what-shall-be-done-for-bulgarian-cyrillic-loclbgr/
Includes this helpful image:

I will post similar info about Macedonian and Serbian later.

[kenmcd]

Was making some Bulgarian examples and found substantial differences in how many characters are replaced in different fonts.

FOSS Fonts (# alternates): Arsenal (21), BitterPro (26), Commissioner (22), Cormorant Garamond (23), Fira Sans (62), FiraGo (62), Linguistics Pro (27), Manrope (23), Montserrat (23), PT Sans Expert v2.004 (25), Sophia Sans (30), Source Sans 3 (23), Source Serif 4 (23), Spectral (23), Unbounded (20), Vollkorn (26), Ysabeau (25)

Commercial Fonts: SF Pro Text (27, incl. small caps),

[moyogo]

There is no official Bulgarian style and no official glyph set for it either.
This is basically a style based on the cursive forms that works for any language using those forms in cursive that was popularized in Bulgaria on signage, display and headlines and came to be use increasingly in text as well. They were minorly popular in other languages a some point as well, but really only took off in text in Bulgaria.

There is no requirement, as such, to have that style in Bulgarian. It’s just a popular style so it’s nice to have.

[KrasnayaPloshchad]

Here’s some samples:
https://books.google.com/books?id=6HTdZ5rxJ-cC

[moyogo]

@KrasnayaPloshchad that book doesn't mention letter forms.

[rsms]

Related to #567

[vitorsr]

Examples

PT Root UI

Bahnschrift

Merriweather

Shantell Sans

Counterexamples

Noncomprehensive.

There are no other bg-Cyrl families in the Microsoft Typography Font Library.

SIL has not updated current LGC families such as Andika.

STI Pub has not updated STIX Two.

Noto has not been updated either.

Roboto also.

See relevant discussion on notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic#187 (Jul 2014) and notofonts/latin-greek-cyrillic#172 (Nov 2016). See also googlefonts/roboto#215 (Dec 2016).

---

See attached pyftfeatfreeze reports for the mentioned font families.

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'pt-root-ui_regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BGR '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BSH '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'AZE '
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
-s 'latn' -l 'TRK '
# Features:
-f aalt,case,ccmp,dlig,dnom,frac,hist,liga,locl,numr,ordn,pnum,salt,sinf,ss01,ss02,ss03,ss04,ss05,ss06,ss07,ss08,ss09,subs,sups,tnum

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'bahnschrift.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BGR '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'MKD '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
# Features:
-f aalt,case,ccmp,frac,locl,ordn,pnum,rvrn,sups,tnum

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'Merriweather-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BGR '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BSH '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'CHU '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'AZE '
-s 'latn' -l 'CAT '
-s 'latn' -l 'CRT '
-s 'latn' -l 'KAZ '
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
-s 'latn' -l 'TAT '
-s 'latn' -l 'TRK '
# Features:
-f aalt,case,ccmp,dnom,frac,liga,lnum,locl,numr,onum,ordn,salt,sinf,ss01,subs,sups,zero

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'ShantellSans-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'BGR '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'MKD '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'UKR '
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'CAT '
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'NLD '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
-s 'latn' -l 'TRK '
# Features:
-f aalt,calt,case,ccmp,dnom,frac,liga,locl,numr,ordn,rlig,sinf,ss01,ss02,ss03,ss04,sups,tnum,zero

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'Andika-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'MKD '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'IPPH'
-s 'latn' -l 'VIT '
# Features:
-f aalt,c2sc,ccmp,cv01,cv04,cv06,cv07,cv10,cv13,cv17,cv19,cv20,cv25,cv28,cv31,cv34,cv35,cv37,cv39,cv43,cv44,cv46,cv47,cv49,cv51,cv52,cv55,cv56,cv57,cv62,cv67,cv68,cv69,cv70,cv71,cv75,cv76,cv77,cv79,cv80,cv81,cv82,cv84,cv90,cv91,cv92,cv98,frac,liga,locl,smcp,ss01,ss04,ss05,ss13,ss14,subs,sups

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'STIXTwoText-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'grek'
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'LTH '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
-s 'latn' -l 'TRK '
# Features:
-f c2sc,case,ccmp,cv01,cv02,cv03,dnom,frac,liga,locl,numr,onum,pnum,smcp,subs,sups

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'NotoSans-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'cyrl' -l 'MKD '
-s 'cyrl' -l 'SRB '
-s 'dev2'
-s 'dev2' -l 'MAR '
-s 'dev2' -l 'NEP '
-s 'grek'
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'APPH'
-s 'latn' -l 'CAT '
-s 'latn' -l 'IPPH'
-s 'latn' -l 'MAH '
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'NAV '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
# Features:
-f aalt,abvs,akhn,blwf,blws,c2sc,case,ccmp,cjct,dnom,frac,half,haln,liga,lnum,locl,nukt,numr,onum,ordn,pnum,pres,psts,rkrf,rphf,rtlm,salt,sinf,smcp,ss03,ss04,ss06,ss07,subs,sups,tnum,vatu,zero

$ pyftfeatfreeze -r 'Roboto-Regular.ttf'
# Scripts and languages:
-s 'DFLT'
-s 'cyrl'
-s 'grek'
-s 'latn'
-s 'latn' -l 'AZE '
-s 'latn' -l 'CRT '
-s 'latn' -l 'FRA '
-s 'latn' -l 'MOL '
-s 'latn' -l 'NAV '
-s 'latn' -l 'ROM '
-s 'latn' -l 'TRK '
# Features:
-f c2sc,ccmp,dlig,dnom,frac,liga,lnum,locl,numr,onum,pnum,salt,smcp,ss01,ss02,ss03,ss04,ss05,ss06,ss07,tnum,unic

[StefanPeev]

There is no official Bulgarian style and no official glyph set for it either.

@moyogo This is true. There is no official form of Bulgarian Cyrillic, although fonts with Bulgarian Cyrillic forms are widely spread in Bulgaria in the last 5 years.

[StefanPeev]

The oval Cyrillic alphabet has already been codified as an official book standard for printed letters in Bulgaria

The oval form of the Cyrillic alphabet is recognized as official in Bulgaria and is legalized by the Bulgarian Language Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria through the online edition of the "Official Spelling Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language". The Bulgarian Language Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the only institution in Bulgaria that is authorized to be officially responsible for the codification norms of the modern Bulgarian literary language. In the "Bulgarian alphabet" section, for the first time, the printed capital and small letters are represented by an oval form of the Cyrillic alphabet, and this already turns the oval Cyrillic into an official form of the printed alphabet in Bulgaria. It is curious that the website of the publication "Official Spelling Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language" uses the font of the Russian company "Paratype" - PT Serif BGR.