সহায়:Assamese script display and Input help

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Wikipedia heavily uses diverse scripts from numerous languages. It has adopted Unicode (UTF-8) as the "encoding" scheme for its websites. In order to view this Assamese version of Wikipedia, you need to have your computer set up to see web pages encoded in Unicode Assamese scripts. To do this, you need to have a Unicode capable browser and Unicode Assamese fonts. Modern browsers following web standards like Internet Explorer[1], Opera[2], Safari[3], Firefox[4] and Google Chrome[5] support viewing Assamese scripts once you enable unicode support in your operating system and install the fonts.

Check for existing support

The following image shows you how a correctly enabled computer will render the Assamese script:

The following line of text shows how your computer renders the above line:
ক + ি → কি

If the rendering on your computer matches the rendering on the image, then you have already enabled complex text support for Assamese and should be able to view text correctly in Assamese script. However, this does not mean you will be able to edit text in Assamese. To edit such text you need to install the appropriate keyboard software on your operating system.

Windows XP (Service Pack 2)

Viewing

Go through the following steps:

Download the latest versions of Internet Explorer(IE8 or IE9), Opera(Opera 9) or Firefox browser(Firefox 5.0 or later)
Download Unicode Assamese fonts from the web and install them on your operating system; quite a few of these fonts are freely available. please go below to see a list of web locations that house such fonts.
Go to control panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Language, and check the "Install files for complex scripts and right-to-left languages" option. You will need your Windows XP SP2 installer CD to install these new files. Alternately you can copy one Assamese font and paste it directly in the "Fonts" folder ("C">Windows>Fonts) of your system.
Install Assamese support on your browsers:
- On Internet Explorer 6 or above: Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Languages, and add Bengali as a language.
- On Firefox 1.5-3.5: Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> General -> Edit Languages..., and add Bengali as a language.
Go to your browser's "view" menu and set the "character encoding" or "encoding" feature to: Unicode (UTF-8). For Firefox 3.6 or above, you don't need to do anything.
If you want to change to a favourite Assamese Unicode font for your webpages:
- For Internet Explorer 6 or above: Go to Tools-->Internet options-->Fonts, choose Bengali from the Language Script pulldown menu and select from one of the available Assamese fonts in your system.
- For Firefox 1.5-3.6: Go to Tools -> Options -> Content tab -> Advanced... in the Fonts and colors section. In the pop up window titled "Fonts", select Bengali from the "Fonts for:" pulldown Menu and set a Bengali/Assamese font of your choice for various kinds of fields like Serif, Sans Serif, Monospace, etc. to be shown on web-pages. For Firefox 4 or above, go to Firefox-> Options-> Options -> Advanced -> Fonts for Bengali. Now choose a suitable font.
- For Opera 9: Go to Tools -> Prefereces -> Advanced tab -> Fonts>International fonts>choose Assamese from drop down list. Select Assamese font of your choice. In most of the cases, opera automatically detects your support for unicode once you have it in operating systems and installed fonts. So, you may not require the steps above.
- For Google Chrome 10 or above: Click on the Customization tab on upper right corner, go to settings> Under the hood> Web contents> Customize Fonts> Choose a suitable Assames/Bangla font for serif and sans-serif.
- Maxthon 3: Click on the smiley tab on upper left corner> Settings> Advanced> Font> Web page font> select a suitable one.

These procedures of changing the font apply for Windows 7 also.

Inputting

Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Language, and check the option “Install files for complex scripts and right-to-left languages" and insert Win XP CD in your CD-ROM drive to install the files.
Download and install any Assamese/Bangla input interface software from the list provided near the end of this article.
Follow the help guide/manual that comes with the applications for instructions on how to input Bangla/Assamese. You should be able to input anywhere you need to type Assamese provided the application is unicode compliant. Ideally, you should also be able to input Assamese directly into the edit window of this wiki in your browser.

Windows 95, 98, ME and NT

These operating systems contain no support for Assamese script. Downloading Internet Explorer 6.0 should enable you to view Assamese scripts on these operating systems but you will not be able to edit any Assamese text. If after downloading Internet Explorer, you still cannot view Indic scripts please install an appropriate Unicode Assamese/Bangla font.

Mozilla Firefox does not support Assamese script on these operating systems.However, Internet explorer and Opera [6] does support Assamese script on any operating system that supports complex scripts and unicode.

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Mac OS X

Unicode support is built into Mac OS X. You need to download and install Assamese/Bangla unicode supported fonts with Apple Advance Typography (AAT) to enable it. You can download some of them from Ekushey.Org. To view unicode Assamese web pages use Safari or Google chrome as your browser. Currently Firefox/Mozilla/Camino do not support AAT. As a result you will not see Assamese/Bangla properly on those browsers. To input Assamese you have to download unicode Assamese keyboard layouts. You can download some of the layouts from Xobdo.org.

Gnome

Viewing

You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Indic text in Gnome 2.8 or later. Ensure you have Assamese/Bangla Unicode fonts.

When using Mozilla or Firefox, you must enable Pango rendering by opening xterm and typing MOZ_ENABLE_PANGO=1 mozilla or MOZ_ENABLE_PANGO=1 firefox. After this, all future sessions of Mozilla or Firefox will have Assamese language support. This will work only on Firefox compiled with ctl support. Only the firefox binaries supplied by Fedora Core 4 and Ubuntu Linux are compiled with this ctl and set this option, by default.

Inputting

Go to Applications > Preferences > Keyboard.
Select the "Layouts" tab.
Select the keyboard for the language or script you wish to use from the "Available Layouts" frame and then press "Add".
Press "Close" to discard the dialog box.
Right click on the main menu on your desktop and select "Add to Panel...".
Select "Keyboard Indicator" and click "Add".
Position the keyboard indicator on your menu bar and click it to switch between keyboard layouts.

KDE

Viewing

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.

Inputting

In the Control Center, go to Regional & Accessibility, Keyboard Layout
In the tab Layout, click on Enable keyboard layouts
Choose the layout you want in Available layouts
Click on Apply
Now, you will have an icon for the KDE Keyboard Tool in your panel, in which you can choose the layout you want

Locations of free unicode Assamese/Bangla fonts

List of software/resources that enable writing in unicode Assamese

(Alphabetically)

Windows

Jahnabi [Jahnabi Keyboard] both Unicode/ASCII input methods
Rodali from SLTD, Assam
Assamese Input Method Editor 2 from Microsoft's BhashaIndia
Avro Keyboard from OmicronLab
Baraha software from Baraha
XOBDO Assamese Phonetic Keyboard from XOBDO

Linux

Mac

Assamese Phonetic Keyboard for Mac OS from XOBDO

Viewing Tips

Solution for the small fonts problem

If you think the font size is too small, you can use the "text size"/"zoom" feature of your browser to enlarge it. The methods for increasing "text-size" in different browsers are as follows:

Firefox 5 or above: Go to Firefox ->Options -> Options -> Font size; OR, hold down Ctrl, and press "+"
Internet Explorer 6: Go to View->Text size->Larger(or, Largest). Internet Explorer 7 or above: Tools -> Zoom. OR, hold down Ctrl, and press "+".
Opera 9: Go to View->Zoom-> (select %); OR, press "+" for a 10% increase.
Chrome 10 or above: Go to settings> Under the hood> Web content> Increase the font size or page zoom, OR, hold down Ctrl, and press "+".
Maxthon 3: Settings> Page settings> Page zoom> set it at above 100%.

Alternately in Windows you can replace your default system font "Vrinda" with bigger size fonts like Lohit Assamese or Siyam Rupali.

Check for existing support

Windows XP (Service Pack 2)

Viewing

Inputting

Windows 95, 98, ME and NT

Mac OS X

Gnome

Viewing

Inputting

KDE

Viewing

Inputting

Locations of free unicode Assamese/Bangla fonts

List of software/resources that enable writing in unicode Assamese

Windows

Linux

Mac

Viewing Tips

Solution for the small fonts problem

See Also