Hi;
Just a note about viewing this Group with the Pali characters.
I don't know if it would make sense to allow Pali instead of Velthius
but it is definitely possible to use the Pali Characters in the Group (I
don't know if the email messages sent automatically would work as well).
I'm putting this note as an answer to Martha's question so that a person
can see these instructions and try it out in the same message!
The 'Gentium Basic' font with the needed Pali characters is available at
: Gentium â" a typeface for the nations
<
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=gentium>
A Firefox add-on called Transliterator has Velthius to Pali
transliteration built in (I requested it ages ago, sent him the codes
and he was nice enough to add it as a standard language). Look for
Pali-Velthius in the list of languages. You can use this for typing in
your messages. You can read about it on the Firefox pages at :
Transliterator
<
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/transliterator/> .
Before trying the following, please note this - important - step. Before
you change something in your browser settings, write down what it is now
so that you can change it back after trying it out!
I have the Gentium Basic font installed on XP, Kubuntu and Ubuntu. I
also tested this using Browsers in English and French. It should work
for any language you use as your default for your browser.
It should work with any Pali font (not just Gentium Basic).
To see the message from Martha in Pali on Firefox version 6 or higher :
Firefox on Windows XP -
* Step 1) In the main Firefox menu use Tools - Options - Content and
set Default Font to Gentium.
* Step 2) In the main Firefox menu use View - Character Encoding -
Unicode (UTF-8).
Firefox on Ubuntu and Kubuntu (and other Linux systems) :
* Step 1) In the main Firefox menu use Edit - Preferences - Content
and set Default Font to Gentium.
* Step 2) In the main Firefox menu use View - Character Encoding -
Unicode (UTF-8).
Internet Explorer version 8 or higher:
* Use : Page - Encoding - Unicode (UTF-8)
* If it doesn't work right away then you can change the font in Tools
- Internet Options - Fonts to Gentium Basic
To Martha [=;]
You mention that you tried Firefox. Using Tranliterator to type in the
Pali characters might be helpful for you.
Safari is already UTF-8 Unicode by default. For the PTS dictionary and
other Pali web sites : It is very likely that you can change the default
font to Gentium Basic to see the characters (and change it back again
when you are done - it only takes a second).
To web page developers : New HTML5 compliant web browsers are starting
to support "automatic font loading". In other words, if the user doesn't
have a font required by your web page then the font will be downloaded
automatically. No more hunting for fonts! No more worrying that users
might not have the correct font! In a year or two, all browsers will
support this feature. The Gentium Basic font supports this feature now.
To moderator - I created this message using Yahoo's Standard New Rich
Text Editor (for bold, numbering, indentation and highlight). For
techies - It is a WYSIWYG html editor that allows adding some nice
elements (like tables and images) and css style (like centering, etc).
At the bottom-right of the data entry box where you type in your message
there is a little link 'Most HTML is OK. Learn More.' for the geeks in
the group. This might be handy for adding Pali texts in a format that
could be used in other contexts (like Pali Dictionaries, other web
pages, etc)?
Hope this helps.
peace from
Andy
--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Martha Turner" <mxi@...> wrote:
>
> Let me apologize in advance: This is a much more basic question than
what I have been seeing on this list. I have been struggling with using
the PTS dictionary online for about three months now, thinking surely my
difficulties would resolve with just random trying of things. Now I am
looking for help.
>
> THE PROBLEM: The PTS dictionary seems unpredictable in whether it
returns a response when a diacritic is entered in the search box. For
example: I looked up aññÄá¹a and saw that the etymology was [a
+ ñÄá¹a]. I cut and pasted ñÄá¹a and got nothing. I
progressively truncated it, receiving nothing, up to just ñ --still,
0 entries. Tried other methods of entering my ñ--0 entries. There
are no words in this dictionary beginning with ñ? (The Gair and
Karunatillake reader lists 6 entries in its glossary beginning with
ñ.) Similarly, a search for words beginning with Ä returns
only two words! (I just don't believe it.)
>
> Sometimes, however, it seems to return an appropriate result. When it
returns an unlikely result, however, it persists over weeks with the
same unlikely result (only two words beginning Ä, for example).
>
> SOME TECHNICAL SPECIFICS: am using a Mac running OSX 10.6.8, Safari,
my default font is Times New Roman (a unicode-enabled font), and my
default encoding is UTF-8. I have tried Firefox a few times, the
results have the same problems.
>
> Typically I am selecting "Search entry words only (not definitions)"
and "Words starting with." (Tho, yes, I have tried other search
parameters.) Typically, I am truncating material at the end--often
truncating progressively more material until I get a result that I can
scroll through. Sometimes this works--but too often it gets me nothing.
>
> I have tried using Edit>Special Characters>Insert to insert characters
with diacritics AND have tried copying and pasting my word from the PTS
text (generally accessed through accesstoinsight.org) AND have tried
copying and pasting my word from a PTS dictionary entry: same results.
>
> Please excuse the rudimentary nature of this inquiry; I would be most
grateful for any help anyone can give. Thank you.
>
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