Unicode Explained

Working with Fonts

In a word processor like Microsoft Word, it is deceptively simple to change the overall

font, or the font of some particular piece of text. You can paint a piece of text with the

mouse and select a font for it from a drop-down menu. In web authoring, it is not much

more difficult, especially if you use authoring software that resembles a word processor.

However, things become difficult if the chosen font does not contain all the characters

you need.

Each computer system is shipped with some repertoire of fonts, which

may be insufficient for working with a large character repertoire even if

the system is basically “Unicode enabled.”

Installing Additional Support

For example, a typical Windows system might not have any font that is rich enough to

present all the characters you need. Unfortunately, Windows has often been preinstal-

led without full “multilingual support.” You may therefore need to install additional

fonts.

On Windows XP, you would do this as follows:

1. Select Start → Control Panel → Regional Options and Language Options.

2. In the “Languages” tab, there are checkboxes for two groups of languages, “com-

plex scripts and right-to-left languages” and “East Asian languages.” Check either

or both of them to install optional fonts and system support for these languages.

You will be informed about disk requirements and asked to confirm. You might

be prompted to insert