That is a complex subject. :^)
> Relevant to text art: If this TCSS were standardized, the width of
> every Unicode character/sequence in the terminal would be precisely an
> integer number of cells, and these widths would be the same across all
> terminals. This would mean most any Unicode characters could be used in
> text art. Maybe this will open many new possibilities in text art! Or
> maybe it will largely have no effect on text art! We shall see.
If you're dealing with less complex scripts, the results are already
here. It's perfectly practical to use English, Japanese, Korean, and
Braille within a single piece now. Emojis are trickier because some have
a character presentation and an emoji presentation, most notably U+263A
"White Smiling Face": ☺ which is a single cell character in my xterm
but may render as a wider emoji elsewhere, such as a terminal window on
my phone.
But straight Japanese is quite consistent at using two cell width.
Here's automated conversion of a JPEG to "full width" (used in Japanese
when it's desirable to have English text print at the width of Japanese
characters). Because it's the same characters as English, I can just sub
them in a regular automatic image to text tool without thinking much.
MMMMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWWMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOCC+
MMMMMWWMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOCCY
MMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOCC
MMWWWMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOC
MMWWWWWWWWWWWOUUYXmzXUOMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOCC
MMMWMWMWWWMYmXmmXmxxzzzmCOOOOOOOOOOOOCCC
MMMWWWMMWCmzzzmmmzxxzzzzzUMOOOOOOCCCCCCC
MMWMMMWWUmzzzxzzx++++xzzxzYMMMMMMOOOOOCC
MMMMWWWUmmzmzx+;;+zzx++zz+xUMMMOOOOOOOOO
MMWWWWOmx+xzx;;+mYmYYmx+zxxzOOMOOOOOOOOO
WMWWWWXz++zx+;zXmmmmmmmxxx;xYOOOOOOOOOOO
MWWMWOmx;xx+;+zmmmmzmmzz+z++xOOOOOOOOOOO
MWMMWYmx;zx++zzmmx+;+zzxxx+;+YOOOOOOOOOC
MMMMOmmx;zx;mzmmx;xx+xz++x+;+xCOOOOOOOCC
MMMMUzmx+zx;Yxmm+mYUmxz+;x+x;xYOOOOOOCCC
MMMMYmz+;xx+UzzmzUUCXzx+;x+x++zOOOOOOCCC
MMMMXmm++xx+UmzzzXYmzz+;;z+xz+zOOOOOOCCC
MMMMmzzx+xx+XXxmmmzzzx;;xxzxm+zCCOOOOCCC
MMMMOmx+xxxxxYzxzzzzx;,+zxXxx+XCCCCCCCCC
MMMMMOzxzz+xx+mx;++;,,;xxxX+++UCCCCCCCCC
MMMMMOm++mxxx++x+;,,;+xx+mx+;YUCCCCCCCCC
OOMMMOOmx++;+++++xxxx+;;+++;XUUCCCCCCCCC
MOOOOOOUzx+;;++;+xxx+;;;+++mYUUCCCCCCCCC
OOOOOOOOCm+++;,,,;;;;++++zmYYUUUCCCCCCCC
OOOOOOOOOUmx+++++++x+++xmXXYYUUUCCCCCCCC
OOOOOOOOOCCUXzx++++++xzmXYYUUUUUUCCCCCCC
OOOOOOOOOCCCUUUXXmmmmXYYYUUUUUUUUCCCUUUU
OOOOOOOOOOCCCCCUUUYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYYXXY
OOOOOOOOOOCCCCCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYXXXXXYYYY
CCCOOOOOOOOOOCCUUUCCCUUYUYYYXXXXXXXXYYYY
The source image is a set of onion rings that got stuck together in the
fryer to look like an eye.
Elijah
------
but yeah, combining forms sadly don't work well