Unicode fonts / Polices Unicode
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The computer world has been moving to use of Unicode-encoded fonts. These "Unicode fonts" may include any subset of the Unicode / ISO-10646 standard; no single font has everything in Unicode.
Here is a list of some "Unicode fonts" that may be of particular use for African languages written with Latin extended character sets ("special characters") or non-Latin scripts.
Latin Script fonts with African extensions / Polices latines avec les extensions africaines
Open Source fonts / Polices libres
- Andika
- Charis SIL
- DejaVu Sans, Serif and Sans Mono: African Latin Script, N'Ko, Tifinagh
- Doulos SIL
- Free UCS Outline Fonts
- Gentium
- Junicode
- Linux Libertine
- MPH 2B Damase?: African Latin Script, Tifinagh
Freely downloadable fonts / Polices téléchargeables gratuitement
- AfRomanSerif?
- Code 2000 (and following versions): African Latin Script, N'Ko, Tifinagh
- Hapax Berbère: Tifinagh
- Hapax Touareg: Tifinagh
- IRCAM Amazigh fonts: Tifinagh
Fonts bundled with software / Polices vendues avec des logiciels
- Arial? (for Windows Vista): African Latin Script, Arabic
- Arial Unicode MS: African Latin Script, Arabic
- Lucida Grande (for Mac)
- Lucida Sans Unicode (for Windows)
- Segoe UI? (for Windows Vista and MS Office 2007)
- Tahoma (for Windows Vista)
- Times New Roman (for Windows Vista): African Latin Script, Arabic
Fonts for sale / Polices vendues
Latin font features
Most African languages using Latin Script can do with Unicode 2.1, but Unicode 4.1 is better. Unicode 5.0 adds uppercase letters and some diacritics required by a few languages. Proper support for combining diacritics? is hard to find.
- positioning: Single combining diacritics? are properly positioned around base characters. Example: éɛ́ÉƐ́ vs. éÉ
- stacking: Combining diacritics? can be stacked? properly. This also includes combination of below and above diacritics. Example: ḗĀ́ẹ́
- soft i: When followed by a combining diacritics above, the 'i' loses its dot. Example: íɨ́
- cedilla: The combining cedilla is properly placed when combined with other diacritics. Example: í̧
- Normalisation Form Decomposite (NFD) = Normalisation Form Composite (NFC): Composed and Decomposed equivalent strings have the exact same shape. Example: D:éḗÁĀ́í̧ẹ́ C:éḗÁĀ́í̧ẹ́
| Font | Coverage | Diacritics | Styles |
|---|---|---|---|
| AfRomanSerif? | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking, soft i, NFD = NFC | Regular, Bold |
| Andika | Unicode 4.1 | present | Regular |
| Arial? | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Arial Unicode MS | Unicode 2.1 | present | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Charis SIL | Unicode 5.0 | positioning, stacking, soft i, cedilla, NFD = NFC | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| DejaVu Sans | Unicode 5.0 | positioning, stacking, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics, Condensed (Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics), ExtraLight |
| DejaVu Sans Mono | Unicode 4.1 | some positioning, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| DejaVu Serif | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics, Condensed (Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics) |
| Doulos SIL | Unicode 5.0 | positioning, stacking, soft i, cedilla, NFD = NFC | Regular |
| Gentium | Unicode 3.0 | present | Regular, Italics, Alternative (Regular, Italics) |
| FreeMono | Unicode 4.1 | present | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| FreeSans | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| FreeSerif | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Junicode | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking, soft i | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Linux Libertine | Unicode 4.1 | positioning | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics, Smallcaps (Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics) |
| Lucida Grande | Unicode 4.1 | present | Regular, Bold |
| Lucida Sans Unicode | Unicode 4.1 | present | Regular |
| Segoe UI? | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Tahoma | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
| Times New Roman | Unicode 4.1 | positioning, stacking | Regular, Italics, Bold, Bold Italics |
Unicode fonts & "special fonts"
Unicode fonts should be used in preference over 8-bit "special fonts" developed in many countries. The advantage of Unicode over 8-bit special fonts (also called "legacy fonts") is that the Unicode fonts are intercompatible on any computer.
References
AlanWood.net, "Unicode fonts for Windows computers" (includes links to fonts for Mac) http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts.html
Bisharat.net, "A12N: Resources on fonts & keyboards / Ressources sur des polices et claviers," http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/#font
Wikipedia, "Unicode typefaces," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_typefaces
Gallery of Unicode fonts, http://www.wazu.jp/index.html