03-25-2012, 09:31 PM | #1 |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Posts: 1,212
Karma: 6244877
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Coastal Texas
Device: Android Phone
|
Non-Roman Unicode Characters
Anyone know which non-Roman unicode characters are supported by their readers?
For example, I can type a variety of special characters and stay within a basic font, even though Times New Roman only supports about a third of the full set. But if I'm writing for an e-reader, how much of that is actually available for use? I wouldn't mind having a character that speaks in Mah Jongg tiles, y'know... |
03-25-2012, 09:54 PM | #2 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 73,645
Karma: 127838196
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Give Charis SIL a try. It's a free font you can embed that should support all of what you need. You can embed it in ePub which would mean you'd be covered for ePub. It comes in all four styles you might need.
|
Advert | |
|
03-26-2012, 03:20 AM | #3 | |
Stercus accidit
Posts: 330
Karma: 513878
Join Date: Mar 2012
Device: Nookpadle 6
|
Quote:
And so it was that Pung and Chow perched upon the red and green dragons rode the four winds to the land of Kong. |
|
03-26-2012, 06:57 AM | #4 | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Posts: 1,212
Karma: 6244877
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Coastal Texas
Device: Android Phone
|
Quote:
Edit: And if I was embedding one, I'd probably embed FreeSerif or Liberation Serif anyway, as well as one of the display fonts I use on my covers. They're also FOSS. I was actually thinking about using them for some Dark Elves. The FMC doesn't speak Elvish (she only speaks two languages- Common and Bad Common), and I didn't want to run the risk of someone trying to decode it and make a language guide. |
|
03-26-2012, 08:46 AM | #5 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,095
Karma: 11315768
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: UK
Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch
|
I was thinking of creating a test "book" with every character in it, to see which ones work and which ones don't. (Has anyone done that already?)
I have a handful of books that use inline graphics for some foreign characters. You can see it in the click to view sample of The City & the City by China Mieville on Amazon - it's the accented Z in Beszel. That's not an ideal solution, since the graphics can only be one size, and the surrounding text can be whatever size I want. I'm not really sure whether the accented graphics are conversion artifacts (the other book I had this with was converted by me from an epub), lowest-common-denominator (I believe the original Kindle had an inferior character set), or if the readers or ebook formats really can't do them. |
Advert | |
|
03-26-2012, 09:55 AM | #6 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,582
Karma: 22735033
Join Date: Dec 2010
Device: Kindle PW2
|
Quote:
If you click on the first entry in the TOC, you'll see examples of Unicode ranges that your reader supports natively. You can use the second page to test whether your reader supports embedded fonts. If it does, you'll most likely see more characters. |
|
03-26-2012, 10:36 AM | #7 | |
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Posts: 1,212
Karma: 6244877
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Coastal Texas
Device: Android Phone
|
Quote:
|
|
03-26-2012, 11:06 AM | #8 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,582
Karma: 22735033
Join Date: Dec 2010
Device: Kindle PW2
|
Quote:
Since many readers have CJK support, it might easier to find out the Hanzi characters(s) depicted on a specific tile and use them instead of tiles. Last edited by Doitsu; 03-26-2012 at 12:34 PM. |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
FREE: The Roman and the Runaway | mandahill | Self-Promotions by Authors and Publishers | 3 | 01-07-2012 04:12 PM |
mobi conversion loses latin-extended-additional unicode characters | Gunaddho | Conversion | 0 | 12-24-2011 02:52 PM |
Unicode characters OK in text but wrong in TOC | paulpeer | ePub | 8 | 01-15-2010 06:17 PM |
Reader adds space after unicode characters... | bmfrosty | Astak EZReader | 2 | 07-16-2009 08:53 PM |
Non-roman fonts | ebookworm | Sony Reader | 6 | 10-06-2007 12:12 AM |