ആം ചിഹ്നം ഫോണ്ടുകളിൽ

ഏറെക്കാലമായി പലരും ചോദിക്കുന്ന ഒരു സംശയമാണ് അക്കങ്ങളുടെ കൂടെ ആം ചിഹ്നം എഴുതുമ്പോൾ വരുന്ന കുത്തുവട്ടം എങ്ങനെ കളയാമെന്ന്. 16-ാം, 18ാം തുടങ്ങിയ ഉദാഹരണങ്ങൾ. ഒട്ടുമിക്ക അപ്ലിക്കേഷനുകളുടെ പുതിയ പതിപ്പുകളിലും ഈ പ്രശ്നം കാണില്ല. ലിബ്രെഓഫീസിൽ പക്ഷേ ഈ പ്രശ്നം തുടരുന്നുണ്ട്. ഇതിനു പരിഹാരമായി ഫോണ്ടുകളിൽ ഒരു ചെറിയ പുതുക്കൽ നടത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. മഞ്ജരി, ഗായത്രി, ചിലങ്ക, നൂപുരം ഫോണ്ടുകളുടെ പുതിയ പതിപ്പുപയോഗിച്ചാൽ ഈ പ്രശ്നം ഒഴിവാകും. പുതിയ പതിപ്പുകൾ smc.org.in/fonts എന്ന പേജിൽ നിന്നെടുക്കാം.

October 4, 2023 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Introducing Nupuram, new Malayalam typeface

I am happy to introduce Nupuram, a new Malayalam typeface that I have been designing and developing for several months. The typeface is not ready for a stable release, but pre-release versions are available for early testing. Nupuram is a superfamily typeface. Nupuram variable font Taking full advantage of variable font technology, Nupuram offers an unprecedented level of flexibility, all from a single font file. Nupuram has 4 variation axes: Weight, Width, Slant and Softness. As a variable font, Nupuram gives you fine-grained control over each one of its styles. However, it also comes with 64 predefined styles that are easy to access through your font menu. Called named instances¹, these work just like regular static fonts do. ...

October 5, 2022 · 5 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Gayathri 1.20 released

A new version of Gayathri typeface is available now. Version 1.20 comes with a few bugfixes and glyph additions. New version is available at SMC website for preview and download. Changes Fix the size issue of fullstop and comma Add 0D7B+0D4D+0D31 based ന്റ Improve kerning for latin Add 22 latin glyphs Fix spacing issues for quote signs Flatten the nested components Update build dependencies and CI The latest version is not yet available at Google fonts. But I hope it will be updated soon. ...

May 14, 2022 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

New version of Manjari Typeface released

A new version of Manjari Malayalam typeface is available now. Version 2.000 comes with a few bugfixes and glyph additions. Most of the changes are based on a review by Google fonts team. New version is available at SMC website for preview and download. Changes Design correction for Malayalam number 10 to better match the attestations (0d6b0fc2) Avoid glyphs that use components that are components themself (6fe9b35d) Add ligatures glyphs for ൻ + ് + റ version of nta (2c39ae08) Review and update diacritics alignment (c498245d) Rename License.txt to OFL.txt (a483e86c and 40411ef0) Revert “Use consistant hhea ascender and descender” and disable vertical metrics check in fontbakery (832e54e3 and 05a899d1) GDEF: Change the Mark glyphs to non-spacing and add more mark glyphs (550d0515) Improve fractions glyphs for consistant stroke widths (b6e70bb5) Fix points out of bounds issues (285417c6) Add ക്ട്ര ligature glyph (186fdb4b) Add more tests for kerning and latin (9d900e58) CI: Exclude name check in fontbakery (c28d095f) Multiple build toolchain updates The latest version is not yet available at Google fonts. But I hope it will be updated soon. ...

March 19, 2021 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Manjari version 1.800 released

A new version of Manjari Malayalam typeface is available now. Version 1.800 adds tabular number and slashed zero opentype features along with bug fixes. New version of the font is available at: https://smc.org.in/fonts/#manjari Tabular numbers The Kerala health department publishes daily COVID-19 reports and they use Manjari(example). Sometimes the numbers in table in Manjari font is slightly difficult to read when you want to compare the numbers in columns across rows. This is because each digit will take a proportional horizontal space and not fixed width. ...

April 11, 2020 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Chilanka font version 1.500 released

A new version of Chilanka Malayalam typeface is available now. Version 1.500 adds glyphs required to support International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration New version of the font is available at: https://smc.org.in/fonts/#chilanka Chilanka was the first typeface I designed in 2014 for Malayalam. The usecase I had in mind while designing it was to use it in comic or non-serious contexts. But once it was released, contrary to my expectation, people used for serious Malayalam writing. The identity it acquired since its release was more about writing that are personal, such as invitations, intimate letters, reflections of childhood, innocence, nostalgia etc. This was a pleasant surprise to me and happy to see its widespread use everywhere. ...

March 21, 2020 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Chilanka version 1.400 released

A new version of Chilanka typeface is available now. Version 1.400 is available for download from SMC’s font download and preview site smc.org.in/fonts For users, there is not much changes, but the source and code build system got a major upgrade. Source code updated to UFO format from fontforge sfd format. This allows to work with modern font editors. Use cubic beziers for master design, generate OTF along with TTF. The original drawings for Chilanka was using cubic beziers. fontmake is used for building the ttf and otf, similar to the latest font projects by SMC fontbakery is used for tests, all tests are passing now Added a few important latin glyphs missing, reported by fontbakery

June 5, 2019 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Gayathri – New Malayalam typeface

Swathanthra Malayalam Computing is proud to announce Gayathri – a new typeface for Malayalam. Gayathri is designed by Binoy Dominic, opentype engineering by Kavya Manohar and project coordination by Santhosh Thottingal. This typeface was financially supported by Kerala Bhasha Institute, a Kerala government agency under cultural department. This is the first time SMC work with Kerala Government to produce a new Malayalam typeface. ...

February 21, 2019 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Kindle supports custom fonts

I am pleasantly surprised to see that Amazon Kindle now supports installing custom fonts. A big step towards supporting non-latin content in their devices. I can now read Malayalam ebooks in my kindle with my favorite fonts. [][1]Content rendered in Manjari font. Note that I installed Bold, Regular, Thin variants so that Kindle can pick up the right one This feature is introduced in Kindle 5.9.6.1 version released in June 2018. Once updated to that version, all you need is to connect the device using the USB cable to your computer. Copy your fonts to the fonts folder there. Remove the usb cable. You will see the fonts listed in font selector. ...

July 1, 2018 · 1 min · Santhosh Thottingal

Stylistic Alternates for ച്ച, ള്ള in Manjari and Chilanka fonts

The ligatures for the Malayalam conjuncts ച്ച, ള്ള have less popular variants as shown below The second form is not seen in print but often in handwritten Malayalam. I have seen it a lot in bus boards especially at Thiruvananthapuram. There are no digital typefaces with the second style, except the Chilanka font I designed. It uses the second variant of ച്ച. I got lot of appreciation for that style variant, but also recieved request for the first form of ച്ച. I had a private copy of Chilanka with that variant and had given to whoever requested. I also recieved some requests for the second style of ള്ള. For the Manjari font too, I recieved requests for second variant. ...

January 6, 2018 · 2 min · Santhosh Thottingal