fonts for PC

[Frances Pritchett]

On Fri, 6 Sep 1996, Peter Freund wrote:

> >Can anyone offer advice on Indic fonts (Devanagari primarily, but also
> >Bangla) for PCs?  I have Fran Pritchett's comprehensive list but would
> >like to hear from someone who's actually used one or more of them and can
> >tell me how they are.
> >
> >Thanks -
> >
> >Rebecca Manring
> 
>         Ralph Bunker and I have been working to develop devanagari and
> transliteration data entry systems that work on the Mac and on PC-Windows,
> and are truly cross platform--they permit exchanging files between the two
> platforms.  Typing devanagari on the PC should be as easy as typing
> English.  Typing speeds of as high as 120 devanagari verses per hour can be
> achieved by a fast typist.  To achieve this kind of speed on a PC it is
> necessary to use a typing program.
>         This blazing speed --does anyone know of any faster?-- has been
> clocked with Vedatype.  The "Vedatype" typing program that was developed,
> uses VedicFont, by VedicFontFoundry, a simple devanagari truetype font,
> originally designed for the Mac.  Because in Windows (3.1 or higher), it is
> laborious and tedious to access the upper 128 characters of a font, and
> because devanagari fonts make use of all the characters in the upper 128, a
> typing program is helpful, if reasonable typing speeds are to be attained.
> Effortlessly accessing the full range of characters available in the font
> is one purpose served by the Vedatype typing program.
>         We know that the devanagari script itself is not strictly speaking
> sequential, so it becomes necessary, for example, to type a leading r in a
> conjunct at the very end of the syllable that it precedes:  This mental
> juggling slows the typing process, causes errors and frustration, and great
> difficulties for beginners, and can be more easily handled by a computer
> program.  This is another area where Vedatype is useful:  The Vedatype
> typing program allows entering simple transliteration in  natural phonetic
> sequence, and assembles the proper conjunct characters, and vowel symbols
> for you.  Refinements, such as placement of offset vowel markings for "ka"
> and "pha" are automatically taken care of by the program.
> 
> The Vedatype program uses the same keystrokes for typing transliteration
> and devanagari, and can therefore convert from one to the other.
> 
> Text that has been typed can be cut and pasted into any other Windows
> application that uses truetype fonts. (Font name and font size is lost when
> going from one application to another, but the text need only be selected,
> and the Vedic font and desired size chosen, for it to reappear.)
> 
> 
> The advantages of Vedatype are:
> 1. It is easy to learn, even a beginner can be typing after about five minutes.
> 2. It is possible to achieve typing speeds in devanagari that are on a par
> with English typing speeds.
> 
> In principle, the algorithm for Vedatype could be customized for any font,
> and text could even be converted effortlessly from any one devanagari font
> (with its own unique key assignments) to any other, but this refinement
> awaits further software development.
> 
>         The keystrokes on Vedatype are as follows:
> 1.  The letters a, i, u, e, o, k, g, c, j, t, d, n, p, b, m, y, r, l, v, s,
> and h are in their respective home key positions.
> 2.  The vocalic r is in the q position.
>     the guttural n is in the z position.
>     The palatal n is in the x position.
>     The palatal s is in the f position.
> 3.  The letters ai, au, kh, gh, ch, jh, .th, .dh, th, dh, ph and b h
> require typing the two keystrokes shown, for "a" and "i" in order to get
> "ai."
> 4.  The letters aa, ii, uu, and long vocalic r are in the shift position of
> the corresponding short vowels.
> 5.  The retroflex letters .t, .d, .n, and .s, are in the shift position of
> the corresponding dental letters.
> 6.  Anusvara (.m) is in the shift-m position; visarga (.h) is in the
> shift-h position.
> 7.  In Vedatype, when a consonant is typed without the following short "a",
> then a virama is added.  The virama disappears when you type "a" or any
> other vowel.
> 8.  A signle danda is the comma keystroke; double danda is the period.
> Avagraha is straight single quote.
> 9.  Anunasika is in the shift Z position.
> 10.  There are key assignments for anunasika, pranava, pada separation, and
> for Vedic accents.
> 
> VedicFont is available from Yeoman Software, SU #152, Fairfield, IA 52557
> for $34.95.  Vedatype is shareware, also available from Yeoman Software,
> for $15, for a total of $49.95, shipping included.
> 
> Hope this is useful,
> 
> Peter Freund
> 
> 

Just for completeness, I would like to know how one would type the
Urdu-based sounds of /fe/, /ze/, /qaaf/, /khe/, and /ghain/.  All five are
needed for Urdu words, and the first two of course for English-derived
words as well.  If this system is to work satisfactorily for Hindi, it can
hardly do without these sounds.  Since the f, z, and q keys have been
assigned to other purposes, can these letters be accessed in some other
way?  I do not see them on the chart.