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Tibetan, Dzongkha

Notes | Recommended Fonts | Keyboard Layouts | Mac vs. PC Rendering Issues | Credits

Notes

• For the most up-to-date and authoritative information about Unicode computing in Tibetan and Dzongkha, the SALRC strongly recommends that the user consult the Tibetan Fonts pages at the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library at the University of Virginia. In addition to an archive of existing Unicode and non-Unicode fonts and input methods, the THDL offers an extensive discussion of Unicode, rendering, and platform issues. This SALRC page is intended to supplement the support offered by the THDL.
• Note: Tibetan support is not currently 'built-in' for Microsoft Windows XP; however, the latest version of Microsoft/Adobe's "Uniscribe" rendering engine (usp10.dll, version 1.453.3665.0) does provide layout tables for Tibetan. This version of Uniscribe is installed as a part of the MS Office 2003 Service Pack 1 update. For typing and web-browsing in Tibetan, the user must install both the proper fonts (recommended on this page) and the proper version of the Uniscribe engine. It is anticipated that the new Windows operating system ("Vista") will have built-in support for Tibetan.

Recommended Fonts

The SALRC recommends the following fonts for Tibetan, Dzongkha, and Ladakhi language pedagogy and Internet applications:

[Click on font names or samples for specific information and text samples for each font.]

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Input Schemes and Keyboard Layouts

Please see the THDL's Tibetan Fonts pages for a thorough discussion of Tibetan Unicode Input Methods. The SALRC recommends the following options:

• Tavultesoft Keyman Keyboard Layouts developed by Chris Walker at the University of Chicago. There are two "Sambhota" layouts and one that conforms to the THDL Extended Wylie transliteration system. Note: Keyman is no longer a 'free for personal use' utility, and must be purchased; these layouts, however, are available free-of-charge. Also available at this webpage are a set of Unicode text converters for legacy fonts.
• Dzongkha Keyboard Layout: This layout was designed by the Dzongkha Development Authority and the Department of Information Technology of the Royal Government of Bhutan. It has been created using Microsoft's Keyboard Layout Creator by Chris Flynn and may be used for Tibetan and Dzongkha input on the Windows XP platform. Note: Since Windows XP currently does not offer built-in language support for Tibetan, one must assign the Dzongkha keyboard to an 'unused' language on the computer. See the THDL support page for more details.
• OpenOffice.org: A free, open-source office suite project that is Unicode-savvy, OpenType enabled, and able to run on Linux/Sparc, Mac OS X (with X11), and all modern Windows platforms, including Windows 95.

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Rendering issues: Mac vs. PC

The fonts recommended on this page have been tested for functionality on PCs running Windows XP/2000/2003/NT. They are unsuitable for use with Macintosh computers, because they make use of OpenType technology, developed jointly by Microsoft and Adobe, for displaying vowel signs (matras) and ligatures appropriately. While OS X also recognizes OpenType layout tables, it uses a different rendering engine (ATSUI), and these fonts are written for Microsoft's engine (called Uniscribe).

OSX currently does not offer Tibetan as a part of its international language support; however, a Unicode Tibetan Language Kit may be purchased from XenoType Technologies.

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Additional Resources and Credits

The content and design of this page rely largely Alan Wood's Unicode Fonts and WAZU JAPAN's Gallery of Unicode Fonts; these sites are excellent and up-to-date resources to find fonts, text editors, browsers, and other Unicode resources. The statistics and other font details appearing on this page have been used with their permission. David Germano (University of Virginia) has been of great help in the design of this page. Please visit Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library's Tibetan Fonts pages for additonal Unicode support.

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