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Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and Mandarin equivalents of Verdana, Georgia etc?
Hi, I'm working on a multi-lingual project for the first time and have been asked to find out if there are any standardised web fonts for each of the following languages:
• Hindi
• Urdi
• Arabic
• Mandarin
Similar to what we have in fonts such as Verdana, Georgia, and...say it quietly....Arial.
Really appreciate any help from the members of the board who may have experience in this field of typography. Of course, and insights from speakers of those languages would be deeply appreciated, as well. :)
Many thanks in advance!
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31 May 2011 — 4:12am
http://typophile.com/forum/366
31 May 2011 — 10:05pm
Oh wow...thanks a bunch Aziz. :)
I had a look around on that sub-forum, and still couldn't find a definitive answer to my question.
Also, one of the guys that I am working with on this project is quite adamant that, at the very least, there is a default chinese or japanese web-safe font. But I'm having no luck in trying to find it.
Again, any advice on this matter is deeply appreciated.
31 May 2011 — 10:29pm
Further to my question, should I be looking to a Unicode font to be the elixir to my multi-lingual web typography quandry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_typeface
As, I understand it, Unicode fonts account for many different languages by having a tremendously larger set of glyphs than a standard, language-specific, font.
1 Jun 2011 — 4:34pm
Please, not all at once!
Have I infringed upon the unspoken rules of typographical forum etiquette by having the audacity to utter the 'A' word whilst in the company of your good selves?
Or was it my wanton usage of an emoticon and elipsis in my second post?
1 Jun 2011 — 5:26pm
If you’re looking for “standardised web fonts“, you will be bound by what the users have installed on their computers. So, depending on the expected OS share, you will want to look for the bundled system fonts for each script and/or for the various surveys on installed fonts.
1 Jun 2011 — 6:43pm
Your question assumes a level of sophistication in multi-script type design that remains elusive. People have enough trouble making fonts that are both authentic and harmonious in a script like Armenian; having standard fonts in the Arabic, Hindi and Chinese (not Mandarin) scripts that are truly compatible with even hallmark Latin fonts is still a dream.
So: just be happy there's anything at all in those scripts available by default. :-/
hhp
2 Jun 2011 — 10:54am
It is possible that trawling through http://www.wazu.jp/ would answer some of your questions.