#Sanskrit #Wikisource will get WebFonts

Both the Sanskrit #Wikipedia and the Sanskrit Wikisource are written in the same language and the need for support for the language is the same.

As you can see, input methods are already available for the Sanskrit Wikisource and adding WebFonts on a Wikisource has much more potential. Historic texts were often written in a different style of the same script. With WebFonts it is possible to have multiple fonts available. When a specific font reflects the style at the time of a publication, it adds to an authentic experience.

One other fringe benefit is that text in a script that is supported by WebFonts can be indicated as being in the language and it will show up properly. We do not know of any Sanskrit sources including Cuneiform text but when there are, support for the Cuneiform web fonts can be invoked starting this Monday.
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Cuneiform is supported at #translatewiki.net

At the last #Wikimedia localisation team's Office hour, one of the questions was if we could support the cuneiform script. I blogged about it and we did find a font for the cuneiform script that was freely licensed. This font has been enabled at translatewiki.net.

When this font becomes available at for instance the English Wikisource, the text of the Epic of Gilgamesh or the Cyrus cylinder can be made available in the original format and we can be reasonably sure that any device that supports web fonts will show the characters as defined in the Akkadian font.

The Akkadian font is available in the Debian distribution and was developed by George Douros. There are several other fonts for historic texts created by Mr Douros. They can be made available. This however  will happen on request.

English Wikipedia without WebFont support

There is a point to making WebFonts available at this time. However, we will not push this functionality until we are done with a unified interface which integrates both input methods and web fonts. Currently the easiest way of identifying text in another language is using templates eg {{lang-nl|Dit is Nederlands}}.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Relevant historic texts

The Cyrus cylinder is arguably one important piece of world heritage. It consists of a text written in the cuneiform script. The text is still relevant after two thousand year so much so, that there is a TED presentation about it.

 

The text is in translation available at Wikisource. Given that the English Wikisource will support WebFonts next week, having a freely licensed font to do justice to the Cyrus cylinder is the next step before we can reliably show the text as it exists on the cylinder. Having a translation adds value to the source.

Thanks,

    GerardM