Summary of Support for Unicode Tibetan Script
To install Monlam Bodyig 3 on to your computer, please follow these simple steps. It is much easier than you think. Open the folder called 'Monlam Bodyig 3 for Mac OS X'. Open the 'Fonts' folder and copy or drag all the fonts in the folder - except 'Monlam Uni Sans Serif' - into your computer's Macintosh HD Library Fonts. Unfortunately, most sites listing Tibetan fonts only provide links to the original provider of the font, many of which have since been removed or obfuscated. Moreover, several common fonts are only available as Windows.exe files, making it difficult to load them on Mac or Linux computers. Download Monlam Bodyig Tibetan font set up for Mac OS and Windows - imechemi/monlam-bodyig. East Asian languages all have profound traditions of calligraphy and there is no exception for Tibetan. The difference is that Tibetan calligraphy is performed with a reed pen but not a brush as in Chinese or Japanese calligraphy.
Tibetan script is used for writing various languages of the Himalayan regions and the Tibetan Plateau including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Balti, Sherpa, etc. Classical Tibetan is also used as a liturgical language by the peoples of these regions and also by Mongol peoples of the Eurasian Steppe and Siberia. References to 'Tibetan' in the following summary refer to the writing system of the Tibetan script, as encoded within the U+0Fxx block of the Unicode standard.
Support for Unicode Tibetan in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL Server
Since 2003 it has been possible to configure Windows (2000 and XP) to use Unicode Tibetan at the application level: in documents, spreadsheets, databases, web pages, email, etc. Recent versions of Windows (Vista and 7) support a wide variety of OpenType Tibetan fonts, providing automatic support for Tibetan at both the application level and at the level of the operating system. Windows Vista / 7 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 support collation (alphabetical ordering) of Tibetan data.For a detailed list of Unicode Tibetan support in Microsoft, click here
1. Starting with Vista (January 2007), Windows includes a Tibetan font ('Microsoft Himalaya'), a Tibetan keyboard, and automatic support for Unicode Tibetan.
2. There are more than 30 Unicode Tibetan fonts available which take advantage of Microsoft's Uniscribe module (usp10.dll) to properly render Tibetan script in Windows.
3. Various Tibetan keyboards can be easily added to Windows at the system level.
4. Applications from various third-party vendors, such as OpenOffice, work well with Tibetan if they call upon the Windows Uniscribe module for rendering complex scripts.
5. Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox can display Unicode Tibetan web pages, including Tibetan script within web-based email.
6. Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Access, Publisher, etc.) provides good support for Tibetan script. Tibetan-script fonts can be easily and selectively applied to Tibetan content; long lines wrap as expected (after Tsheg or Shad); and Tibetan-script numerals are treated as numbers for calculations in Excel spreadsheets, etc.
7. Adobe InDesign uses its own complex script rendering module instead of Uniscribe and works well with many Unicode Tibetan fonts (but not with all).
8. In Windows Vista / 7, Tibetan-script names can be given to folders, files, device names, user names and other system-level entities.
9. If a Tibetan locale is active in Windows, lists and columns of Tibetan data in Word and Excel can be sorted in Tibetan sort order. Likewise, at the system level, files and folders can be listed in Tibetan alphabetical order.
10. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is able to store, select and retrieve Unicode Tibetan data and can also sort records according to Tibetan alphabetical order.
Support for Unicode Tibetan in Apple Mac OS X
In December 2002, XenoType Technologies began selling its Unicode Tibetan Language Kit which enabled use of Unicode Tibetan in Apple Macintosh applications (with some limitations). Starting with Mac OS version 10.5 ('Leopard') in October 2007, Apple added built-in support for Unicode Tibetan consisting of two Tibetan fonts and three Tibetan keyboard layouts, along with system level support for proper rendering of Tibetan-script data. Mac OS version 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”) adds enhanced support for some OpenType Tibetan fonts.
For a detailed list of Unicode Tibetan support in Mac OS X, click here
Unicode Tibetan fonts
The Unicode (OpenType) Tibetan font “Microsoft Himalaya” is included with Microsoft Windows Vista / 7; the Unicode (AAT) Tibetan fonts “Kailasa” and “Kokonor” are included with Apple Mac OS 10.5 / 10.6. Additional Tibetan fonts can be easily added to either Windows or Mac computers.
For a list of available Unicode Tibetan fonts and links, click here
List of available Unicode Tibetan fonts (with links)
The following Unicode Tibetan fonts are freely downloadable:
Qomolangma fonts (10 fonts – September 2010 versions are Adobe InDesign capable)
Jomolhari ID (Adobe InDesign capable)
Fonts from Bhutan (Tashi, Tsuig, Wangdi)
Monlam fonts (13 fonts – August 2010 versions are Adobe InDesign capable)
Monlam Tibetan Font Download For Mac Free
Tibetan Machine Uni (March 2010 version is Adobe InDesign capable)
Monlam Tibetan Font Download For Mac Download
Commercial Tibetan fonts are available from:
XenoType Technologies – specialize in fonts for Apple Mac OS X and Adobe; claim their Tibetan fonts also work in Microsoft Windows.
Monlambodyig
Jamyang Software – offer Tibetan and Bhutanese fonts
Monlam Bodyig Keyboard
Nitartha-Sambhota – recently released their first Unicode Tibetan font (SambhotaDege Unicode)