Simon is a hands-on software architect who works within 
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[Coding the Architecture] Just a short note to plug a handful of sessions that Kevin and I are presenting at the upcoming Software Architect 2008 conference, 3rd-5th June, London. 1. Coding the Architecture : From Developer to Architect The first is a re-run of our ...
Hindi on Mac OS X
While testing some of the resource bundles that will be distributed with Pebble 1.8, I found out that Hindi fonts don't seem to be installed on Mac OS X by default, or at least they weren't when I upgraded to Panther, perhaps because I unchecked an option somewhere. If you see garbage characters or little boxes instead of little curved characters, you'll need to install some additional fonts. Thankfully, after a little digging around the Internet (e.g. devanaagarii.net), I discovered that an additional fonts package can be found on Mac OS X Panther installation disk 2. Double-click this through the Finder and a whole bunch more fonts are installed. You don't even have to restart.
Of course, this could all change tomorrow with the release of Tiger. :-)
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
Hi Simon,
I found you thru http://devanaagarii.net/'s access logs.
Since I don't have a mac(yet), I've been looking for information on Hindi support on the mac.
Are you able to browse Hindi websites after installing this lang pack?
For example, sites like BBC Hindi or DMOZ Hindi ? Could you post some screenshots? I'd like to see what it looks like on a mac :)
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
I've taken a screenshot of the BBC Hindi site, which you can find here
This is super cool. The rendering is perfect. It wasn't so in the Mail application when I saw it at the apple store (on a Tiger, but I don't know which version of mail). Would you mind if I link to this image on my page Why can't I see the Hindi section? , or better still, host it on my website so that the display doesn't consume bandwidth on your site? With due credits to you of course. :)
Also, could you copy - paste some of the content on the bbc hindi website from the safari window, paste it on a mail compose window, and email it back to yourself? ( I want to see the screenshots for both the compose and the received email - to see if the rendering is handled properly). And could you do the same for a newsreader on your mac?
I'm really sorry for having to ask you to do all this - since I don't have a mac and there are many people who keep asking me about devanagari support on mac and I had no answers for them - till now, thanks to you!
I know this is asking for too much so I won't mind if you don't respond.
Thanks a lot again for the screenshot.
This is super cool. The rendering is perfect. It wasn't so in the Mail application when I saw it at the apple store (on a Tiger, but I don't know which version of mail). Would you mind if I link to this image on my page Why can't I see the Hindi section? , or better still, host it on my website so that the display doesn't consume bandwidth on your site? With due credits to you of course. :)
Also, could you copy - paste some of the content on the bbc hindi website from the safari window, paste it on a mail compose window, and email it back to yourself? ( I want to see the screenshots for both the compose and the received email - to see if the rendering is handled properly). And could you do the same for a newsreader on your mac?
I'm really sorry for having to ask you to do all this - since I don't have a mac and there are many people who keep asking me about devanagari support on mac and I had no answers for them - till now, thanks to you!
I know this is asking for too much so I won't mind if you don't respond.
Thanks a lot again for the screenshot.
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
Hindi on the Mac works fine, but the major problem right now is that the Mac has a different font rendering technology (AAT + Atsui) for Unicode and OpenType fonts than does Windows, which ends up meaning that there are a handful of different OpenType Unicode fonts out there for Hindi that work only on Windows and not on the Mac. And if you consider the direction that font developers will take in developing either free or proprietary OpenType fonts, I don't think they'd make the special effort to develop AAT-compliant fonts just for the Mac. This is the current scenario, but Apple may make changes later on to be able to work with Windows OpenType fonts that are rendered in Windows by their Uniscribe technology.
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
Hi!
Actually, I have the same problem! I work on a iBook G4 with Mac OS X 3.9, and I do not want to mess reinstalling dvd's and chosing the fonts packages. I wish any one could just give me the right hint to download or upload devanagari fonts on my mac, which would allow me to read news in Hindi on internet, whether I use firefox or safari.
If you have the luck to obtain a workable answer, please feel free to give me your secret at :
lesetoilesfilantes@yahoo.fr
Gratitude!
Actually, I have the same problem! I work on a iBook G4 with Mac OS X 3.9, and I do not want to mess reinstalling dvd's and chosing the fonts packages. I wish any one could just give me the right hint to download or upload devanagari fonts on my mac, which would allow me to read news in Hindi on internet, whether I use firefox or safari.
If you have the luck to obtain a workable answer, please feel free to give me your secret at :
lesetoilesfilantes@yahoo.fr
Gratitude!
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
Hello!
I just update Devanagari : Mac with some fresh information for Tiger. Hope you find it to be useful.
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
Cant seem to get the Hindi font to work. In fact I'm using Leopard and there is no Hindi font anywhere (must have not installed it). Can't find install script on either cds either. Safari and (of course) Firefox will not display either. And no luck with Office 2008
Read all the above comments but still can't get the font anywhere
Re: Hindi on Mac OS X
There would be a "Fonts for Additional Languages" fonts package that needs to be installed.
Have a look at this document.