Ja-based clusters are not always ligated with vowel signs’ vertical stems

[dscorbett]

Fonts

NotoSansGujarati-Regular.otf
NotoSerifGujarati-Regular.otf

Where the fonts came from, and when

Site: https://github.com/notofonts/gujarati/releases/tag/NotoSansGujarati-v2.104
Site: https://github.com/notofonts/gujarati/releases/tag/NotoSerifGujarati-v2.104
Date: 2023-04-06

Font version

Version 2.104

Issue

In these fonts, ja and similar glyphs ligate with post-base vowel signs with vertical stems; see #4. However, some bases fail to ligate. The non-ligating bases are different in Noto Sans Gujarati and Noto Serif Gujarati.

Character data

જ્રાજ઼્રાૹ્રાૹ઼્રા
U+0A9C GUJARATI LETTER JA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0A9C GUJARATI LETTER JA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0AF9 GUJARATI LETTER ZHA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0AF9 GUJARATI LETTER ZHA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA

જ઼ાજ઼્રાૹ઼ાૹ઼્રા
U+0A9C GUJARATI LETTER JA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0A9C GUJARATI LETTER JA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0AF9 GUJARATI LETTER ZHA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA
U+0AF9 GUJARATI LETTER ZHA
U+0ABC GUJARATI SIGN NUKTA
U+0ACD GUJARATI SIGN VIRAMA
U+0AB0 GUJARATI LETTER RA
U+0ABE GUJARATI VOWEL SIGN AA

Screenshots

[simoncozens]

Fixing this for serif is easy. Fixing it for sans is made trickier by the many (unnecessary) ligature glyphs used just to attach nuktas and other marks, and will take a cleanup/re-eng. Serif literally has half the glyphset of the sans; I do wish designers would stop worrying and learn to love mark-to-base!