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(Microsoft Windows ME/2000/XP)

Windows operating system needs additional files installed to render complex scripts like Tamil. This can be done as follows;

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options

You will get a new window with three Tabs (Regional Options, Languages and Advanced). Click on the Languages Tab. Under this, Look for Supplemental language support

Make sure that there is a tic mark in the box before Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai). If not select this. Click Apply

You may be asked to insert the Windows Operating System CD to complete this procedure. Once this is done, your system is enable to read/write Tamil unicode. Windows system comes with at least one Tamil font installed. So you should be able to read Tamil Unicode Pages in the browser. If not follow the steps to install fonts.

This site is in Tamil Unicode fonts. You need at least one unicode font installed in your computer. You may download some unicode fonts from here;

ftp://abbe.optics.utoronto.ca/pub/venkat/tamil_cd/fonts/unicode/

Save it in a temporary location (say desktop).

To install the downloaded unicode font(s) open

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Fonts

In the Fonts Window, choose

File > Install New Fonts

Choose the location where you saved the downloaded fonts. You will now see a list of fonts you downloaded. Select All and click OK to install the fonts.

Open the browser. Choose

Tools > Internet Options

This will open a new window with various tabs. The General tab should be selected by default, if not click on that. Under this click on the Fonts button. This will open a new window.

In the pull-down menu for Language Script Choose Tamil

You will now see the unicode fonts you just installed below. Chose one font for Web page Font and one for Plain Text Font. You should now see Tamil displayed below. (if you see only squares, do not bother for now). Click OK to close this dialogue. Once again close the Internet Options window after clicking Apply.

Iyarpiyal.org web site should now be readable in Tamil. If not in your Internet Explorer, click

View > Encoding > Unicode (UTF-8).

If you still see only squares. Follow the steps on Setting up System Language Options.

Under

Tools > Options > General

Click on Fonts & Colors. A new window will open with choices for fonts and color options. In that choose Tamil in the pull-down menu Fonts-for. In all the boxes below (Proportional, Serif, Sans-serif, Monospace) select the Tamil Unicode font you installed. Close the windows clicking Ok.

You will now see iyarpiyal.org in legible Tamil fonts. If you see squares, follow the steps on Setting up System Language Options below.

Most of the modern linux systems (RedHat, Fedora, Mandrake, SuSE, Debian, etc) come with Unicode support by default under xwindow. You just need a font to view Tamil Unicode Pages.

The font can be downloaded from

ftp://abbe.optics.utoronto.ca/pub/venkat/tamil_cd/fonts/unicode/

Create a directory called .fonts (note the dot in the beginning) and put the fonts in this folder. You should now have access to these fonts under your login.

Note this this only gives the user under whose directory the .fonts reside. If you want system-wide access to Tamil fonts, follow the steps shown in Tamil Linux Howto.