উইকিপিডিয়া:BN/AS/BPY script display help

Note: The orthodox Bishnupriyas claim that they have their own script that is Devanagari Scripts which was used to write Bishnupriya Manipuri language in early days. However on introduction of modern education during the British period through the Bengali language the Bishnupriya Manipuri writers began to use the Bengali alphabet with a little modification. The Bishnupriya Manipuri alphabet is identical to the Assamese script, which is itself almost identical to the Bengali script with the addition of a few letters. In this BPY wiki project we will use Bengali/Bangla scripts, so I just copy how to use Bangla Script from Bengali Wiki: bn:উইকিপেডিয়া:Bangla script display and input help

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 Bangla version of Wikipedia, you need to have your computer set up to see web pages encoded in Unicode Bangla scripts. To do this, you need to have a Unicode capable browser and Unicode Bangla fonts. Modern browsers following web standards like Internet Explorer[১], Opera[২], Firefox[৩] and Safari [৪] support viewing Bangla scripts once you install the necessary fonts and enable unicode support in your operating system.


Check for existing support

The following image shows you how a correctly enabled computer will render the Bangla 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 Bangla and should be able to view text correctly in Bangla script. However, this does not mean you will be able to edit text in Bangla. 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:

  1. Download the latest version of Internet Explorer(IE6+), Opera(Opera 9) or Firefox browser(Firefox 1.5)
  2. Download Unicode Bangla fonts from the web and install them on your operating system; quite a few of these fonts are freely available.
  3. 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.
  4. Install Bangla support on your browsers:
    • On Internet Explorer 6: Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Languages, and add Bengali as a language.
    • On Firefox 1.5: Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> General -> Edit Languages..., and add Bengali as a language.
  5. Go to your browser's "view" menu and set the "character encoding" or "encoding" feature to: Unicode (UTF-8).
  6. If you want to change to a favorite Bangla Unicode font for your webpages:
    • For Internet Explorer 6: Go to Tools-->Internet options-->Fonts, choose Bengali from the Language Script pulldown menu and select from one of the available Bangla fonts in your system.
    • For Firefox 1.5: 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 font of your choice for various kinds of fields like Serif, Sans Serif, Monospace, etc. to be shown on webpages.
    • For Opera 9: Go to Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced tab -> Fonts>International fonts>choose Bangla from drop down list. Select Bangla 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.

Inputting

  1. 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.
  2. Download and install any Bangla input interface software from the list provided near the end of this article.
  3. Follow the help guide/manual that comes with the applications for instructions on how to input Bangla. You should be able to input anywhere you need to type Bangla provided the application is Unicode compliant. Ideally, you should also be able to input Bengali directly into the edit window of this wiki in your browser.

Windows 95, 98, ME and NT

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

Mozilla Firefox does not support Bangla script on these operating systems. However, Internet explorer and Opera [৫] does support Bangla script on any operating system that supports complex scripts and Unicode.

Windows Vista

Bangla script support is automatically enabled.

Viewing

You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Bangla text.

Inputting

You can use any Unicode compliant standard input methods (layout based keyboards from Bijoy, Ekushey, Avro, Probhat, etc). Alternately you can use phonetic dictionary based easy Bangla software like "Shabdik" from here www.iecbd.net. As long as the system had right to left(east Asian language support is not at all important for Bangla it just uses your free space) language support enabled you will be able to write and edit using these applications.

Mac OS X

Bangla script is not supported out-of-the-box.

Viewing

You need to download and install an OS X Bangla font from http://ekushey.org/?page/osx.

Inputting

You need to download and install an OS X Bangla keyboard layout from http://ekushey.org/?page/osx.

Gnome

Viewing

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

List of software/resources that enable writing in Unicode Bangla

(Alphabetically)

Windows

Baraha

With Baraha you can type almost all Indic language

  • Download Baraha 6.0 or above from http://www.baraha.com
  • Start Baraha Direct
  • Right click on the Baraha Direct icon on the status bar, select the 'Unicode' option, choose Bengali/Sanskrit for Itrans or Baraha like input, BN/SA for Nudi like Input.

Linux

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 1.5: Go to View->Text size->Increase; OR, hold down Control, and press "+"; OR, hold down Control and scroll your mouse wheel
  • Internet Explorer 6: Go to View->Text size->Larger(or, Largest)
  • Opera 9: Go to View->Zoom-> (select %); OR, press "+" for a 10% increase.

See also