--- Forwarded Message from Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 10:27:32 -0700
>From: Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Laura Atkinson <[log in to unmask]>, LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7404.3 Hindi documents shared between Macs and PCs (!)
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>References: <[log in to unmask]>
> I cannot seem to type Hindi into TextEdit no matter what I try
> (using the Devanagari keyboard). I just get little squares with a
> single Hindi character. With Mellel, I get empty squares. I'm
> running Panther. ????
It seems likely that the selected font doesn't include the characters
that you need. Since Unicode can be used for (theoretically) any
language, there is no automatic identification between font selection
and a specific langauge. However, Unicode fonts don't contain all
the possible Unicode characters. If they did, the font files would
be very large. Most Unicode fonts contain the characters covering
western Europe, plus, perhaps, characters for a specific language
need, such as Russian or Devanagari. A few fonts, such as Lucida
Grande, which comes with the Mac OS, try to cover a broader range of
languages in one font.
When you type the Unicode code numbers into a document, and the
selected font doesn't contain characters that correspond to those
code numbers, the program will usually display boxes, dashes or
spaces. Selecting the text, and changing to a different font, may
reveal the desired characters.
Hopefully, you know what font you need, and already have a Unicode
version of it. I know less than nothing about Devanagari (that is,
most of what I think I know is actually wrong), so I can't give you
much guidance. If you have the right font installed, select it in
the font menu for TextEdit or Mellel. I'm guessing that one might
come with the Devanagari input method, as an optional install. If
you don't have a specific Devanagari font, try Lucida Grande.
I hope this helps,
Derek
Derek Roff
Language Learning Center, MSC03-2100
Ortega Hall Rm 129, 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: [log in to unmask]
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