4 ms·

Try online here: https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/gnu-unifont https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/gnu-unifont It does look different (likely incorrect), but is defi

Try online here: https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/gnu-unifont https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/gnu-unifont It does look different (likely incorrect), but is definitely better than blank boxes and question marks.

extra88 8y ago
> definitely better than blank boxes and question marks I disagree, I think it's better for it to be apparent when text is wrong or unreadable, even to people not literate in the language. I wondered if the problem had to do with Unifont being monospaced but I pasted "क्षत्रिय" in on the Inconsolata page and it appears correct (i.e. the lines correspond to how they look in the font on this page). https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/inconsolata https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/inconsolata
- jfk13 8y ago
  Inconsolata doesn't support devanagari at all, so when you try that, you're seeing whatever fallback font your browser chooses. (IMO, the fact that fontlibrary.org doesn't indicate this is a serious defect in its presentation.)
  - extra88 8y ago
    Good point. fontlibrary.org lists each font's language support in the sidebar but since the page emphasizes the display of the font, it would be better if they prevented such fallback.
    - jfk13 8y ago
      Its idea of "language support" is also less than ideal, as it just considers the character repertoire and not whether the font can actually render the characters in a typographically correct way. Thus, it claims Unifont has "support" for various South and South-East Asian languages where exactly this issue applies: the text is simply wrong when displayed linearly using a 1:1 character/glyph mapping.
irrational 8y ago
How is gibberish or incorrect better than blank boxes and question marks? At least with blank boxes and question marks it is obvious that there is a problem. Gibberish would be useless to a reader who knows the script, and might cause someone (such as a developer) that doesn't know the script to think that there is no problem.
- MagicPropmaker 8y ago
  Exactly! In the worst case, some hapless person might be using Google Translate to show a tattoo artist what he wants to be memorialized on his chest. With this font. Perhaps with the blank box he'd know something was wrong.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    On the other hand, if you're taking something from Google Translate and tattooing it on your chest, whether or not GNU Unifont is 100% accurate in its glyph rendering is the least of your problems, surely.

extra88 8y ago

> definitely better than blank boxes and question marks I disagree, I think it's better for it to be apparent when text is wrong or unreadable, even to people not literate in the language. I wondered if the problem had to do with Unifont being monospaced but I pasted "क्षत्रिय" in on the Inconsolata page and it appears correct (i.e. the lines correspond to how they look in the font on this page). https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/inconsolata https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/inconsolata

jfk13 8y ago
Inconsolata doesn't support devanagari at all, so when you try that, you're seeing whatever fallback font your browser chooses. (IMO, the fact that fontlibrary.org doesn't indicate this is a serious defect in its presentation.)
- extra88 8y ago
  Good point. fontlibrary.org lists each font's language support in the sidebar but since the page emphasizes the display of the font, it would be better if they prevented such fallback.
  - jfk13 8y ago
    Its idea of "language support" is also less than ideal, as it just considers the character repertoire and not whether the font can actually render the characters in a typographically correct way. Thus, it claims Unifont has "support" for various South and South-East Asian languages where exactly this issue applies: the text is simply wrong when displayed linearly using a 1:1 character/glyph mapping.

irrational 8y ago

How is gibberish or incorrect better than blank boxes and question marks? At least with blank boxes and question marks it is obvious that there is a problem. Gibberish would be useless to a reader who knows the script, and might cause someone (such as a developer) that doesn't know the script to think that there is no problem.

MagicPropmaker 8y ago
Exactly! In the worst case, some hapless person might be using Google Translate to show a tattoo artist what he wants to be memorialized on his chest. With this font. Perhaps with the blank box he'd know something was wrong.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  On the other hand, if you're taking something from Google Translate and tattooing it on your chest, whether or not GNU Unifont is 100% accurate in its glyph rendering is the least of your problems, surely.