Methods and systems for rendering code points on a presentation device with layout processing performed outside the presentation device. In one aspect, a layout processor translates one or more code points into a sequence of one or more glyph indices and corresponding positioning information. The glyph indices and corresponding positioning information may be included within a PTOCA control sequence. The glyph indices may be used by the presentation device to directly locate a corresponding glyph image in a font. The positioning information defines positioning of each glyph image so identified. Features and aspects hereof allow efficient layout of complex text in which glyph images and positioning may be dynamically determined in accordance with context or other attributes. The processing burden of such layout processing is removed from the presentation device without significantly increasing data transmission bandwidth between the presentation engine and external system utilizing the layout processor.