Non-standard 8-bit fonts still in use

[Don Osborn]

I was surprised to learn of continued reference to and presumably use of 
8-bit fonts modified two decades ago for the extended Latin alphabets of 
Malian languages, and wondered if anyone has similar observations in 
other countries. Or if there have been any recent studies of adoption of 
Unicode fonts in the place of local 8-bit fonts for extended Latin (or 
non-Latin) in local language computing.

At various times in the past I have encountered the idea that local 
languages with extended alphabets in Africa require special fonts (that 
region being my main geographic area of experience with multilingual 
computing), but assumed that this notion was fading away.

See my recent blog post for a quick and by no means complete discussion 
about this topic, which of course has to do with more than just the 
fonts themselves: 
http://niamey.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-secret-life-of-bambara-arial.html

TIA for any feedback.

Don Osborn