Installing and Using Asian Characterset on foreign language Computers

Links are updated on on-demand basis. Please contact lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org if you experience difficulties accessing appropriate pages.

1. Installing foreign font sets
for Windows Machine
    Exact URL for downloading 		for Macintosh Machine

2. Configuring your software
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Installing foreign font sets for Windows

Here are some tips for installing Asian characters onto your computer. This will work fine for computers running on English-language Operating System. It also works for computers with non-English Operating System but please be careful and look out for disclaimars about compatibility between different operating system.

Microsoft has a site you can download fonts for InternetExplorer (IE) but since it is a "font", you can always use them in other softwares like Netscape Communicator or Navigator. If you have access to CD-ROM that includes "international version" of IE, check out for "foreign font sets" before you spend unnecessary time downloading online.

Internet Explorer (IE) user

If you have IE installed, go to this site, www.microsoft.com/ie/download and select the version of IE you're currently using. However, if you can handle installing and adjusting other set-up required to use the fonts, you do not need to follow this step -- instead, directly download the fonts from here.

After downloading the fonts you wish to install, execute the installation program off-line. The program will ask you about your IE settings which you can respond interactively.

Non-Internet Explorer (non-IE) user

If you're not on IE, go to this site, select IE3.0, then you'd arrive at a page for downloading font sets. The process of downloding one font set can take 5 min to 15 min.
www.microsoft.com/ie/download

After downloading the fonts you wish to install, execute the program off-line. The intallation program may report errors but you can ignore them for now and carry on untill you have the fonts installed (you can set up your non-IE browser later on.)

After installation of the characters are completed, you may be required to re-boot your computer.

Move on to the next section to assign charactercodes (or language) and respective font sets.

Exact download site for "MS language assistance" (as of February 2000)

www.microsoft.com/msdownload/iebuild/ime5_win32/en/ime5_win32.htm
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Installing foreign font sets for Macintosh

Macintosh user will have to purchase the fonts bundled in its "language kit" package sold from the local dealers. (If you know of any font sets distributed as Mac freeware or shareware, please drop me an email. Thanks! lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org.)

The page describing Apple Computers multi-lingual language kits is here:
www.Apple.com/macos/multilingual

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Configuring your software

To view pages written in Asian language, you may have to instruct your software to use the respective font sets you have just installed. (This procedure is a little bit cumbursome but rewarding.)

Let's take Japanese for examaple and check if it's working okay now or not:

  1. Status Check

    Click here and view fem-net's home page in Japanese

    How does it look?

  1. It looks Okay  --  Lucy you!!  You're done.

  1. It does not show properly   --  Go to number 2

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  1. Changing charactercode (or language) in your browser

    In the brower menu, locate the part that assigns charactercodes (or language and/or fontsets) and apply the correct ones. (Most of the time, the text looks garbled because it is not using the correct charactercodes(or "language") that are linked to matching set of fonts.)

Here's how it looks like in Netscape Japanese version
Look for similar function in your software.


Now, how does it look?

  1. I have changed to the correct charactercodes and the pages now look Okay.

Good.  Well done!!
You are done now but remember how you did it.
You may encounter similar problems in the future.

  1. I have changed the charactercodes but i still don't get the pages to show properly

  Go to number 3

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  1. Assigning correct fonts for each language

    Softwares handling different languages has similar functions to tally language specific font sets for each language.

    This is one example using Netscape Communicator.

  1. Locate configuration in the Menu.

  1. Instruct the software to recognize new Language you want to use.

    1. Click on "Language" Under "Navigator"
      the right-hand side of the window will change to "language" window

    2. Click on "Add" in the "Language" side of the Window
      a window to add new Language will pop-up

    3. From the menu, choose Japanese (or your preferred language)

    4. and click [ OK ]

    You should now fing the new language in the "Language" list.
    (Language list is hidden under selection window in the image below)

  1. Tally appropriate fonts to the language you will use

    Locate configuration in the Menu again (if you had closed it)

    1. Click on "Font" Under "Display"
      the right-hand side of the window will change to "Fonts" window

    2. Click on "Langeage" in the "Font" side of the Window
      a pull-down menu with List of registered language(s) will pop-up

      From the menu, choose Japanese (or your preferred language)

    3. Assign appropriate fonts for the language (this is also pull-down menu with list of all available font sets)

      Here, you should be selecting the fonts that you had just installed onto your computer. (sometimes it is hard to identify which one is which, look through the font list and make a guess. If you didn't guess right, come back here again and try another.)

      Assign fonts for both Proportional and Fixed (usually there are both)

    4. and click [ OK ]

History

June 2001:
section added for software configuration
August 2000:
Uploaded for fem-net
February 2000:
Link to MS Global IME updated
September 1998
Page initially created to accompany "AWORC DEMO Search!" at <www.aworc.org/search/search.html>

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