How to Download and Install the Tamil Unicode Font?
Unicode is the computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and revealing of text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems. The Tamil Unicode Font is used to type the Tamil language on a computer.
The font was developed to enable the digitization of ancient Tamil-Brahmi epigraphs for preservation as plain text. The font is free to use, study, improve, and redistribute.
Free to Download:
Tamil Unicode Font is a free software for typing in Tamil on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It has a built-in Tamil keyboard and supports many of the glyphs in current Tamil scripts, including those found in most modern printed books. It also has a convenient online preview facility. This page explains how to download and install Unicode Tamil fonts on your computer.
Unlike Greek and Latin alphabets, Tamil has 18 consonants and uses diacritics to express vowels. However, it does not use ligatures to combine letters, which is typical of other Brahmic scripts. Moreover, Tamil characters are circular rather than straight, because they were first developed for writing on palm leaves that tear if written with straight lines.
The earliest Tamil epigraphy dates back to the 3rd century BCE. Early Tamil-Brahmi, a version of the ancient Brahmi script, was used in these inscriptions. Later, it fell out of favor and other Brahmic scripts replaced it. The latest Tamil inscriptions have been written in the Tamil alphabet, which has been adapted from other Brahmic scripts.
The Tamil Unicode block consists of characters for the Tamil language, which is commonly used in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia. It has been based on the 1988 ISCII standard, which also included Devanagari, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, and Kannada.
Downloadable:
There are several free Tamil Unicode fonts available on the Internet. They can be downloaded and installed for use in a wide variety of applications. They can also be used as replacements for existing multilingual or bilingual fonts. This can help to ensure that the Tamil text displayed on a screen or document is correct and complete. These fonts can be downloaded from many websites, including the official Unicode website and other independent sites.
The first written inscriptions of Tamil date back to the 3rd century BCE. The script is based on the Brahmi script but has evolved into its own system over time. The shapes were originally square, but they eventually changed to round forms. Round shapes made the inscriptions easier to read, and they avoided damage from water.
Unicode has a separate block for Tamil, along with a number of other Indic languages. It is also supported in many Microsoft and other fonts. Its use is recommended by the South Asia Language Resource Center (SALRC), a US-based nonprofit organization that promotes the use of Indic languages in computer products.
The Unicode encoding for Tamil is based on ISCII, which was based on the 8-bit character encodings used in India at that time. This encoding was the result of extensive work by linguists, programmers, typographers, and experts in standards. It is intended to provide a uniform standard for typing Tamil in the computer, regardless of the keyboard configuration used.
Compatible with all major operating systems:
Tamil Unicode Font is a typeface that supports both Tamil and Latin characters. It has a distinct letterform and flat endings that make it very legible for use in print or on screen. It is also easy to read from a distance. So, it is ideal for use in UI design, web, and electronic displays. It can be downloaded and used for free. The Tamil Unicode font is compatible with most operating systems. It is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It is maintained by the Unicode Consortium.
The software community has been investing talent, energy, and enthusiasm in the computerization of the Tamil language. This is reflected in the variety of products that are being produced. These include Tamil Operating systems, OCR, text-to-speech, Tamil Browsers, Remote communication, Printers and Fonts, etc. These efforts are gaining momentum in several areas with the rapid advancements in information technology.
Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP provide full support for typing Tamil with Unicode. This is incorporated into the multilingual support of the system and can be enabled through the control panel, regional settings, and Asian font capability. Microsoft also provides Tamil keyboard layouts for download. See the Microsoft Keyboard Layouts page for more information. It is recommended to install these keyboard layouts in order to use Tamil on the Internet.
Available in multiple styles:
A number of fonts have been developed for the Tamil Unicode Font. These fonts are available for free from many websites. They are compatible with most operating systems and web browsers. Several styles are available, including serif and sans-serif fonts. Some are also monospaced. Some are also available in multiple weights, including light, regular, and bold. These fonts can be used for a variety of purposes, from typing Tamil documents to viewing Tamil web pages.
Tamil is a modern script that is based on the ancient Brahmi writing system. It is one of the six classical languages of India. So, it is the official language of India and Sri Lanka. It is also a regional language in Malaysia.
The Tamil Unicode Font makes it possible to read ancient Tamil inscriptions in their original form. This font will be particularly useful when digitization initiatives are undertaken to preserve Tamil-Brahmi text. The glyphs for the letters are based on Iravatham Mahadevan’s book on early Tamil epigraphy.
The latest version of the Tamil Unicode Font includes notations for fractions and religious symbols. It is also compatible with the UTF-8 character encoding, which is supported by most Internet browsers. Microsoft Windows incorporates support for Tamil Unicode at the operating system level, and Apple Mac OS X incorporates it with the operating system software.
