On this page:

Use font on your computer Make image files Make PDF files Embed with WEFT
Use a Unicode font! CSS import

to directory



How to Put Bod-Yig on Web Pages

There is no perfect solution to showing Tibetan in your web pages. Here are the ones we know of so far — from the worst, to the best!

Worst: Use whatever font is on your computer

Type your Tibetan text in your word processor, such as MSWord or PageMaker, then paste into your html.
Make your stylesheet call for the font you used.
Provide a link on your page(s) so people can download the font.

Example sites:

Worst: Make your Tibetan text as images:

Make your web pages with Tibetan text in your word processor, such as MSWord or PageMaker, and paste the Tibetan into an image in photoshop. Then include the image into your web page with <img src ... />

Example sites:

Worst: Make your Tibetan pages as PDF files:

Make your web pages with Tibetan text in your word processor, such as MSWord or PageMaker, then convert into PDF.

Example sites:

A little better: Embed a font into your web pages with the WEFT program

Type your Tibetan text in your word processor, such as MSWord or PageMaker, then paste into your html.
Make your stylesheet call for the font you used.
Use the WEFT program to make an eot file that will give the font to the user when they view your page. (WEFT: Web Embedded Font Technology)
Paste the javascript and font code into each web page.

Example sites:

Best: Use any Tibetan unicode font

Type your Tibetan text into your web page, using any Tibetan unicode font, and write your meta tags and css codes to use Unicode. More how-to is here
People who have *any* Tibetan unicode font on their computer, will see your pages in Tibetan.

Example sites:

Problem: The Tibetan letters are too small, or don't line up nicely.

Solution: Make a class in your stylesheet, just for Tibetan.
Mine looks like this: 

*.bo {
  font-size: 130%;        /* make font size bigger - most Tibetan fonts are too small, */
  line-height: 140%;      /* make more space on the line, for tallness of Tibetan font. */
  vertical-align: middle; /* this will make tibetan line up nicely for 
                             inline tags (like span and a) ...
                             it will have no effect in block tags (like div and p)
                             - which is ok! */
}

You may want to adjust your font-size and line-height depending on your page design.

Problem: Some web browsers don't wrap or stack the Tibetan letters correctly.

Solution: Convince the browser and operating system programmers to include Tibetan Unicode in their programs.
It isn't happening yet. Why? The programmers don't know you want this.
These programmers have many many things to think about. There are many languages in the world. They may not know that Tibetan is important to anyone — who is going to tell them?!

A note on MicroSoft Himalaya font:

The Microsoft Himalaya font used in Windows Vista is made and supported by the Chinese government. The agreement between the PRC and MicroSoft stipulates that MicroSoft must not use any other Tibetan font. Is this nice?

Even More Best, in the Future: Provide any Tibetan unicode font, with the CSS import command

This does not work yet in all browsers. But when it does, it will enable your website user to get the font automatically from your website. They won't even know it's happening!

Know more

About Tibetan fonts and the web:
General info:

tibetan_on_web_pages.html
Written 15 September 2009
Revised 29 November 2009