RE: [xsl] outputting an ampersand in an attribute

["Michael Kay" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> These glyphs are not intended to map to actual unicode
> characters, but rather to represent custom glyph characters.
> The character entities are really acting as symbolic links
> between references made in <svg:text> or <svg:tspan> elements
> and the <svg:glyph>s which define the character's shape.
>
> For this reason I needed to maintain the numeric character
> references in the output, so Liam's comment about downgrading
> the output encoding was key.
>

I think that if you're using codepoints to represent custom glyphs, it would
be wise to use codepoints in the Unicode private use area. The distinction
as to whether a character represents a public character or a custom glyph
should then depend on whether or not it is a private use character, not on
whether it is represented in the serialized XML by a numeric character
reference or by a real character. You're attaching information significance
to an accidental property of the XML character stream that is not designed
to convey information.

Regards,

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
http://twitter.com/michaelhkay