A last missing link for interoperable representation

[James Kass via Unicode]

I've been advised off-list that my attempt to make an analogy with CJK 
doesn't sit well.

It's fair to say that ideographic variation sequences are for plain-text 
representation of material which isn't suitable for atomic encoding.  An 
analogy can be drawn from that situation to the situation of other 
scripts, such as Latin (or Khmer).

The ideographic variation sequences also represent an anomaly:  if it's 
not suitable for plain-text encoding, it doesn't *need* plain-text 
representation.  Except that it does.

It's the demands of the CJK user community which drive the plain-text 
representation, which is proper.  This method should apply to non-CJK 
scripts as well.

Styled Latin text is being simulated with math alphanumerics now, which 
means that data is being interchanged and archived.  That's the user 
demand illustrated.

Whether the users are doing it Chicago style or just plain willy-nilly 
doesn't matter; it's being done.  User communities drive their own 
script development and advancement using the tools available.