Help:Sinhala Font Guide: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 10:00, 10 January 2020

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{{Contains special characters}}

[[Sinhala script]] is a [[writing system]] used in Sri Lanka to write the official language [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] and also sometimes the liturgical languages [[Pali]] and [[Sanskrit]].

==How to read Sinhala==

This site uses '''Sinhala Unicode''' fonts. To see them displayed correctly, follow the steps below. We recommend that you use '''[httphttps://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox Mozilla Firefox 2.0]''' or later versions instead of '''Internet Explorer''' , '''Google Chrome''' or '''Opera''', which seem to have some rendering issues.

*If you have '''Microsoft Internet Explorer 6''' or a later version running on '''Windows''', simply install the [http://fonts.lk/download/SinhalaIE.html Sinhala Pack] and restart your computer.

*Right click on your '''Desktop''', choose '''Properties''', go to '''Advanced/Appearance''' tab, click on '''Effects''' and choose '''CleartypeClearType''' as the ''method to smooth edges of screen fonts''.

*Change '''Character Encoding''' to '''UTF-8''' Unicode in your browser ('''VIEW-->ENCODINGVIEW→ENCODING''' in most browsers).

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*If you are using a version of Windows other than XP SP2, you can use the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070320194110/http://www.sinhalasp.com/keyboard_driver.htm| FutureSinhala keyboard driver] to type in Sinhala unicode.

*It's a small background program that intercepts what you type and converts it to the Sinhala unicode format.

*You can type in phonetics, Wijeysekara layout or Singlish (ea kiyanne mehema type karana eka) and the program will type it in Sinhala on any open window (MS Word etc.).

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*If you want to type in Sinhala using your Android smartphone, you can download the Helakuru Keyboard from the '''[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lk.bhasha.helakuru&hl=en Google Playstore]'''. If you don't have Google Playstore installed, then you can download the '''[https://everexstore.com/helakuru-sinhala-keyboard-apk/ Helakuru APK version]'''.

*Helakuru is a mostly used Keyboard app among Sri Lankans in 2020.

==Still having problems==

*[[Wikipedia talk:Sinhala Font Guide|Inform the other users]] about the problems you're having. Sinhala Unicode is relatively new and it may take a while to have universal support.

*We have found '''[httphttps://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox Mozilla Firefox 2.0]''' on Windows XP Service Pack 2 to deliver the best results.

==Why Unicode?==

*And not Kaputa or Kandy or eKottu? Unicode is the international standard for non-Latin scripts. It is Wikipedia's policy to use Unicode fonts in international sister sites. This is to ensure universal usability. You cannot use non Unicode fonts to search in Wikipedia. See other sister sites such as [http://ta.wikipedia.org Tamil Wikipedia] and [http://hi.wikipedia.org Hindi Wikipedia] to understand it'sits capabilities.

*Latest Linux distros come with Sinhala support by default(remember to select Sinhala while installing). Currently, Sinhala does not come built in with '''Windows XP''' unlike Tamil and Hindi. However, the beta versions of upcoming '''[http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx Windows Vista]''' comes with [http://jinath.weblogs.us/archives/031334.html Sinhala support] by default.

*There are also some complaints about the lack of ''pili''s in Sinhala Unicode. This is a misunderstanding due to the fact that some modifiers such as ''yansaya'' and ''repaya'' are not explicitly included in the Unicode code chart. However, these modifiers are included in the glyph tables and can be typed into documents using the appropriate combination of characters. The Sinhala keyboard layout recommended by [[Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka|ICTA]] include keys for both these modifiers.

*Feel free to discuss these issues [[Wikipedia talk:Sinhala Font Guide|in the talk page]].

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* kombuwa (ෙ) should come after the consonant.

:ege.g.: gedara (ගෙදර) is written as: ga + kombuwa + da + ra but '''not''' as kombuwa + ga + da + ra.

* kombuwa haa aela pilla (ො) is a single composite modifier.

:ege.g.: kolamba (කොළඹ) is written as: ka + kombuwa ha aela pilla + la + mba but '''not''' as kombuwa + ka + aela pilla + la + mba.

* in the same lines all the modifiers ේ, ෛ, ො, ෝ, ෞ hashave their own single composites.

* rakaranshaya (්‍ර) is written as: hal kereema + zero width joiner(zwj) + ra

:ege.g.: prauda (ප්‍රෞඪ) is written as: pa + hal kereema + zwj + ra + kombuwa haa gayanukitta + ddha

* yansaya (්‍ය) is written as: hal kereema + zwj + ya

:ege.g.: udyoga (උද්‍යෝග) is written as: u + da + hal kereema + zwj + ya + kombuwa haa diga aela pilla + ga

=External links=

==External links==

*[http://www.info.lk/slword/ Kaputa Sinhahala Unicode Fonts for Windows, Linux and Mac]

*[http://sinhala.sourceforge.net/ Enabling Unicode Sinhala in Linux (Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu)]

*[http://sinhala.sourceforge.net/files/lklug.ttf LKLUG Unicode Sinhala font]

*[http://www.mrt.ac.lk/sinhala/short-word-list/FM-MalithiUW46.ttf Malithi Unicode font]

*[http://fonts.lk/download/SinhalaIE.html Sinhala plugin for Internet Explorer 6]

*[http://www.mrt.ac.lk/sinhala/SinhalaXP0.4.zip Sinhala Pack for Windows XP Service Pack 2]

*[http://sinhala-fonts.lk/download/skoff.htmlcom Sinhala Add-on for MS Office XPFonts]

*[https://sinhalafonts.lk Sinhala Fonts 2]

*[http://www.sinhalasp.com/keyboard_driver.htm SinhalaSP key board drver]

*[httphttps://www.unicode.org Unicode organisation]

*[http://groups.google.lk/group/Sinhala-Unicode?lnk=srgg&hl=si සිංහල යුනිකොඩ් සමූහය - Sinhala Unicode]

*[http://www.helabasa.com HelaBasa Sinhala Fonts with Wijesekara Keyboard for Windows 98, 2000, XP]

*[http://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/ GNU FreeFont] (FreeSerif has Sinhala range)