Reading Sanskrit Unicode Documents

Following the steps in this post will allow you to view sanskrit documents written in unicode (including this blog!). If you are using Windows 2000, you may need to install the optional windows unicode support to get this to work. Some versions of windows come with the 'Mangal' font, but it is really quite ugly. By following the steps below, you will have a *much* better experience !

Step 01: Install the yogesh font

1. Install yogesh font from http://tdil.mit.gov.in/download/GISTYogeshN.zip
2. Unzip the contents of the zip file to a temporary folder (not the desktop)
3. Start Menu --> Control Panel (Classic View) --> Fonts
4. Open My Computer. Go to the location from (2) where the files were unzipped
5. Drag and Drop the files from (4) into the 'Fonts' windows from (3)

Step 02: Regional Language Support (sometimes necessary)

1. Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Languages.
2. Check the box which says Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)
3. Click OK

Step 03: Change Default Devanagari Font (Internet Explorer)

1. Tools --> Internet Options
2. Click 'Fonts' button
3. Next to 'Language script', select 'Devanagari'
4. Under 'Web page font', select 'CDAC-GISTYogesh'
5. Now, sanskrit unicode documents should display correctly using new font
6. If some pages still do not display correctly
   (a) Open the web page in Internet Explorer
   (b) View --> Encoding --> Unicode (UTF-8)

Step 04: Firefox Users Only: Change Default Devanagari Font:

1. Tools --> Options --> Content
2. Fonts & Colors --> Click 'Advanced' button
3. Next to 'Fonts For', select 'Devanagari'
4. Set Serif, Sans-serif and Monospace options to 'CDAC-GISTYogesh
5. Now, sanskrit unicode documents should display correctly using new font
6. If some pages still do not display correctly
   (a) Open the web page in firefox
   (b) View --> Character Encoding --> Unicode (UTF-8)