Help talk:Multilingual support (Indic)

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Usage Notes

Please put this template on pages with lots of Indic script text or pages where users are inadvertently changing Indic text so that it isn't 'Unicode compatible'. Hopefully this should not only educate users but cut down on the number of reverts we have to do!

Please add additional OS or language information as required.

[edit] How to enable?

Complex text support needs to be manually enabled.

Okay. How? -shuri 16:40, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

That's coming next! Give me some time :) You can trying the Punjabi Computing Resource Centre link at the bottom of the page which applies for all Indic scripts, not just Gurmukhi. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 16:53, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks; hadn't even realised this was a new page. -shuri 17:35, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] TODO

Research Sinhala, Syloti Nagri, Limbu and other Indic scripts in Unicode. Need more information on Vista, Mac OS and Linux. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 19:06, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Windows 95, 98, ME and NT

"Mozilla Firefox does not support Indic scripts on these operating systems."

This is not true. You just need the proper fonts. I'm using Firefox on a Win98 computer. Until this last week, I did not see the most of the examples, but I have downloaded and installed a several fonts since then, and now they all the scripts seem to display properly. BlankVerse ∅ 04:25, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Are you sure about this? The page is about 'complex text support' not just Indic fonts. There are two main types of encodings for Indic scripts: The archaic, mismash known as proprietary fonts which substitute ASCII characters for Indic characters and Unicode fonts which require a complex text renderer to work. The first type will work with any browser - the second type, which is what this page is on about, will not! Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 09:33, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

You can view Hindi on win98 with IE6, provided you have enabled CTL support. I think you can use tavultesoft's keyman for typing. BTW, you are welcome to copy-paste any instructions from the kannada wikipedia: http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Kannada_Support

Pamri • Talk 14:07, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

There seems to be a lot of information there! I'll take a look. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 16:46, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

The link to special build of firefox "http://blacksapphire.com/firefox-rtl/" leads nowhere. tagMacher 07:57, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Windows XP

Select the "Languages" tab and make sure you select the option saying "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)". A confirmation message should now appear - press "OK" on this confirmation message.

What if that box is already checked, but the scripts still display incorrectly? — Ливай | Ⓣ 18:22, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Hmm, this problem seems to be specific to Firefox. They look fine in IE. — Ливай | Ⓣ 18:32, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Go to Tools-Options-languages. Set default character encoding to utf-8. --Pamri • Talk 07:38, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

For some reason, my Internet Explorer will for example display ક + િ → કિ where the second devanagari-letter is just a square box. The final, combined letter as well as the first letter will display correctly. In Firefox and Opera this is not a problem, but I would like to fix it for Internet Explorer. Any clues? Oh and I have Norwegian Win XP with the complex script box checked. 80.202.105.84 22:05, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Windows XP without CD

Does anyone know how to display it without a CD? I lost mine Aleksei 10:20, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think you can. You need to use the Windows XP CD to copy over the required files. If you bought your PC from a big company they often have a copy of such files already on your hard drive or on separate backup CDs. Alternatively, you can use IE 6 to view Indic text, but you won't have native system support. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 18:05, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Modify template look?

It was just added to Hinduism and I think it looks like a dispute tag or such. Also, can it be modified to be a single line across the page so that it takes up less space? --Pranathi 05:01, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

There are three templates, Template:IndicText, Template:IndicTextCentre and Template:IndicTextRight. The main template "IndicText" is designed to slot neatly over infoboxes on the right hand side. However for some article layouts this is not correct in which case you can use the other two templates. Please leave the right-aligned template as it is but feel free to change the others. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 14:34, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] TfD nomination of Template:MalayalamScript

Template:MalayalamScript has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at Wikipedia:Templates for deletion#Template:MalayalamScript. Thank you. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 22:23, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tibetan Script

Some of the pages that have Tibetan script (not all) on Wiki have an Indic language warning tag that points to this article - but it doesn't say anything about Tibetan. It might take users a while to figure out how to display Tibetan - like it did me. I downloaded a font, and all is well. I put up a note on the Talk:Tibetan script page, but thought I should post here too.

How can we make it easier for users to see the Tibetan script? Should a new warning tag with info about Tibetan script replace the Indic language warning tag, or should this article page be edited to include Tibetan? I had multi-language support enabled in Windows, but it did not help me out. I could see Chinese, Thai, Russian, etc. script, but not the Tibetan. I'm not real savy on font matters, but if it was frustrating for me, it probably will be for other users - especially on pages that have no script warning tag, like Tibet. What do you think? --Dorje Shedrub 22:30, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Tibetan is an Indic script so if you find any specific information for it, then you should probably add it here. However, as far as I am aware Windows XP does not natively support Tibetan, even with standard fonts or SP2. Vista however, DOES support it, although that's not out yet. I've got installed "Machine Uni" which doesn't work on Firefox, but works fine on IE. It appears as if you'll need an update Uniscribe version for it to work. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 22:51, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

I installed Tibetan Manchine Uni TTF and the Tibetan script on Wiki displays fine for me using Firefox 1.5. I downloaded it from The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library. They may have some other fonts too, read something about web font (on a previous page on that link). You are correct about Windows not supporting Tibetan. Are we talking about the same font? --Dorje Shedrub 04:54, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes it's the same font. Are you sure that the characters stack up properly? I can see the actual characters in Firefox, but they don't stack. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 11:37, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm at a disadvantage in that I can't read Tibetan. However, I noticed that the script shifted after I made an adjustment in my display settings. I enabled "smooth edges on fonts" under my effects settings. This also helped the Tibetan on another non-Wiki page display better. There is information about this at The Tibetan Language Student, and several other fonts, including the font they use, Tibetan Machine Web, which can be downloaded at that link. Let me know if that makes a difference. I'm sure there is a way, because I know some Tibetan translators that use Firefox, and also, with the proper font installed, I can also view Khmer - which I can read a little. --Dorje Shedrub 16:08, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Those fonts do not appear to be Unicode fonts for Tibetan and so are probably not appropriate for Wikipedia. They'd have to be converted into Unicode. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 12:34, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gnome & KDE

Gnome:

You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Indic text in Gnome 2.8 or later. Older versions may have support for some, but not all Indic scripts. Ensure you have appropriate Unicode fonts for each script you wish to view or edit.

KDE:

You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Indic text. Ensure you have appropriate Unicode fonts for each script you wish to view or edit.

Not true. I'm using Fedora Core 5, and most Indic scripts are not displayed, be it under Gnome or KDE - only boxes with an hex code inside are seen instead of the letters. I can see Devanāgarī, Gurmukhī and Tamil scripts without any problems, though. What are the fonts I need to install? --Fibonacci 22:56, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Both Gnome and KDE have the rendering support for other scripts. I'm not sure how many scripts KDE supports, but Gnome supports most, if not all Indic script in Unicode 4.0. Look for appropriate script fonts here: [1]. Apart from installing fonts, you shouldn't need to do anything to enable the complex rendering support. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 23:38, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, it's working fine. --Fibonacci 23:49, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, KDE (at least on Kubuntu 7.0.4) doesn't support Devanagari right out of the box; the Unicode fonts are installed by default, but the infixes do not render properly, as verified by the "correct rendering / your computer" table at the top. The page should be modified to reflect this. If I manage to find a workaround, I will gladly update the page to reflect it. 76.24.30.124 16:14, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What about Southeast Asian scripts?

All of the scripts render correctly for me (except Oriya, for which I don't have a font, but that's not a problem), but Burmese doesn't. I'm using Windows XP. Any suggestions? Angr (talk • contribs) 18:41, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Uhmm, if you have info on other Indic scripts (Burmese, Tibetan etc.) please do add it. But, Windows XP doesn't have support for Burmese. Windows Vista will as far as I know support it out of the box. You may be able to get Windows XP to render Burmese if you upgrade the Uniscribe engine: [2] - although you'll have to search around for it. Alternatively wait until IE 7 comes out! Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 18:56, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Well I'm not going to use Internet Explorer for anything! I was using Firefox, and just this moment updated to Graphite-enabled Deer Park, which helps (Burmese rendering is better than it was, but still not perfect). But that's only for the Internet; I guess I'll have to wait for Vista before Burmese renders correctly in MS Word and other programs. Angr (talk • contribs) 19:09, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mac OS X

I haven't tried many indic scripts yet, but I know that Devanagari simply doesn't display in Firefox on Mac, making the claim that 'safari is more consistent' a bit misleading. Unless someone knows something I don't about getting Indic and specifically Devanagari to display on Mac 10.4 in Firefox at all? --Samzy

It would be nice if someone could alert the developers at Mozilla that is indeed a pain in the ass.

Firefox does display Devanagari and other indic fonts (tested with version 2.0.0.1 on OSX 10.5.1), albeit without complex text rendering (िप as पि ). -- megA (talk) 10:57, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

I've tried both of the add-ons recommended for Firefox and am unable to get Sanskrit to display at all. Is there something available for Sanskrit? Wakablogger (talk) 19:43, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Wakablogger

[edit] Shortcut Name

Hi,

There's now a shortcut available to this page on WP:ECTS. It should make it easier to point users over here. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 10:57, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Debian

I've installed ttf-indic-fonts and now Devanagari seems to work but I only see individual consonant letters and detached vowel diacritics in a row when viewing Bengali text. – ∅ (∅), 10:56, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Characters in the wrong order

Now I'm seeing all of the test ligatures on the project page in the wrong order! For example, in Devanāgarī (which I had no problem with since I installed Fedora Core 5 - I could see it even before I installed any special fonts), क + ि displays as क ि (without the whitespace), instead of in the correct order. I think the problem first appeared since I updated Firefox, but I had not tried to see any Indic text in a long time, so it could well be any other thing. What can I do about this problem? --Fibonacci 21:40, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

This means that complex text rendering is not enabled. Firefox on Linux needs a special patch to work with Indic scripts. This comes by default with Fedora, but if you've used another source to update Firefox this may be why it no longer works. Make sure you update only from proper Fedora repositories. Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 12:47, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

The Fedora repos do not always have the last version. I've just checked, and they're still on 1.5.0.3. --Fibonacci 09:11, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Only on English Wikipedia

I use Netscape (set to display things like firefox) and Indic scripts cannot be viewed properly on English Wikipedia pages. However, I can read Indic text properly on all other websites (including Wiktionary (English and other) and Wikipedias in other languages etc.) and in English Wikipedia edit boxes whilst editing. Sometimes (completely randomly and only for a while) this changes so that the whole format is suddenly different - all Wikilinks are suddenly underlined (completely unrelated) and I can read Indic text. Unfortunately, it always goes back to normal after a while. --Grammatical error 05:34, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Split Complex Rendering Image into Sections

I wanted to arrange the complex rendering test into a table with the test text for each script next to the test image for that script. So I sliced Sukh's image into sections, one for each script, and I replaced the image and the table with a single table that has the images for the scripts in one column and the test text in another column. I didn't seek consensus first; I decided to be bold. If you feel my change is unacceptable, be equally bold and revert it. I won't take offense. --DavidConrad 05:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Seeking help and contribution

Dear Wikipedians,

We apreciate your valuable contribution in article named Wikipedia:Indic transliteration scheme on english WIkipedia.

We at Marathi Language wikipedia do not have enough expertise to update IPA related info in our article, specialy we have been unable to import/update IPA templates and do not know how to use IPA symbols.Please click here-this link- to provide help to update "IPA transliteration for Indic Languages" article for Marathi wikipedia

We seek and request for help in updating above mentioned article and would like to know relevant resources and refferences in respect of Devanagari and IPA .

Thanks and Regards

Mahitgar 16:08, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please add information about SCIM

Hi, all new Linux distributions support & have SCIM packaged. Any information about inputting multilingual text on Linux is incomplete without a reference to scim. Please check - http://www.scim-im.org/

Thanks, Makuchaku

[edit] Gnome section erroneous

Hello, I've noticed a mistake under the Gnome section: "You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Indic text in Gnome 2.8 or later". Unfortunately, according to the article Gnome, the latest release is 2.16. ॐ नमःशिवाय _{Śaiva Sujīt} सुजीत ॐ 06:23, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing Indic script on Vista

This document might be of some use to start that stub. http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/vista/Whats_New_Vista.mspx RC 03:31, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ubuntu 7.04

I've already tried enabling Pango through the command line, but whatever I do, Firefox does not display conjuncts properly. The article says that Pango was disabled in Ubuntu 6.06; it seems to have remained that way. What do I do to get Firefox to display Indic text properly? --Śiva 18:13, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Never mind; installing language support for one or more Indic languages seemed to do the trick. --Śiva 18:39, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Burmese script in Windows Vista

The page has a few fleeting references to Burmese script, which is related to Telugu script, so I'm guessing Burmese is on topic here. I am disambiguating [[Burmese]] today, so I'm seeing a lot of Burmese. I thought I was getting Burmese rendering, but it turns out those pages use images for the text (eg, Pyin U Lwin). Pages with actual text render as "????" (eg, Burmese script). I am running Windows Vista on this machine. Do I need more multilingual support? Randall Bart Talk 22:08, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I notice that Unicode 3.0 (February 2001) has "Myanmar" characters at 1000-1059. As I recall at the time, Unicode 3.0 was considered a major cut off point—those languages that made 3.0 were sure to be in anything with extensive multilingual support. Why does Vista not support everything in Unicode 3.0? {{Burmese characters}} gives directions to a font to load, but with all the megacruft that Vista carries, it's strange that an alphabet used by millions was omitted, no matter how poor support for said language was pre-Vista. Perhaps the Myanmar government has offended the Prince of Blue Screens. Randall Bart Talk 19:45, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] odd rendering problem Firefox on XP

I have full font support under Windows XP (I installed everything on the CD), and have Complex scripts enabled in Firefox and UTF-8 encoding. However, Indic glyphs do not merge properly on Wikipedia pages. They look fine on pages such as http://marathiblogs.net/font_problem, and in the edit window of Wikipedia, but as soon as I hit Show preview or Save page, they break apart. (Vowels are carried by that broken circle, etc.) I've tried Mangal, Sancrit 2003, and Arial Unicode as my default Nagari font, to no avail. Any ideas what's wrong?

Thanks, kwami 08:18, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and every once in a while they do display correctly, until I refresh the page. kwami —Preceding comment was added at 08:19, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Says I need to open xterm and type MOZ_ENABLE_PANGO=1. How do I open xterm? I see nothing in the articles on Pango, xterm, nor on the links provided on how to do this. kwami 10:46, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Deprovement" in IE 7.0

I'm using Internet Explorer 7.0 which is an upgrade from Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1. When I was using IE 6.0, I could read Khmer script and Ge'ez script by downloading relevant software, according to the respective articles. But after I've upgraded to IE 7.0, I found that I cannot read Khmer script anymore! I haven't check for Ge'ez script, but I also found that I cannot read Lontara even though I've installed the fonts! What's going on!? --אדמוןד ואודס_{自分の投稿記録} 15:36, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm not entirely certain what causes the problem on your system, but Wikipedia employs a few hacks to "help" IE6 choose the right fonts for specific scripts. Those hacks dont' work anymore for IE7, unfortunately. —Ruud 19:26, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't quite understand what you mean but the Khmer script works perfectly on IE7. However, you can find instructions on how to change default fonts & sizes for Khmer and other scripts on this website. Hope this helps. - Io Katai (talk) 12:47, 1 June 2008 (UTC)