953028 - Tibetan script fonts not available in B2G

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox OS Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Christopher J. Fynn]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0 (Beta/Release)
Build ID: 20131205075310

Steps to reproduce:

Try to display text or HTML pages written in UTF-8 
Tibean script (Tibetan and Dzongkha languages).
[eg: http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/]




Actual results:

UTF-8 Tibetan script text does not display (only boxes).



Expected results:

Glyphs for Tibetan characters should be displayed and render properly.

Comment 1

[Christopher J. Fynn]

I have created two open source Tibetan sctipt fonts (DDC Uchen and Jomolhari) which are currently available under OFL - but I can also make these available under any other licence preferred or edit them in any way necessary.

Comment 2

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Christopher J. Fynn from comment #1)
> I have created two open source Tibetan sctipt fonts (DDC Uchen and
> Jomolhari) which are currently available under OFL - but I can also make
> these available under any other licence preferred or edit them in any way
> necessary.

Hello Christopher, would you please provide your fonts and release it under GPL or Apache license?

Comment 3

[Christopher J. Fynn]

Yes, I can do this. Where would you like the re-licensed fonts sent or posted?

Is it OK to have a dual license (eg. Apache + OFL or OFL + GPL)? - as it is simpler to keep one version of the fonts.


- Chris

Comment 4

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Christopher J. Fynn from comment #3)
Hello Chris,
Don't need that now. I have found a Font named Tibetan Machine Uni (made by THL or maybe you helped them to build that font). This font uses GPL license. So I used this font and sent a pull request to mozilla-b2g's font repo. Hope they will merge it soon. Mozilla doesn't support OFL license for adding fonts on their MozTT repo maybe. 
BTW, Which font is better? Tibetan machine uni or your Jomolhari?

Comment 5

[Rabbi Hossain]

Attachment: Patch to add Tibetan Script Font support on B2G

Comment 6

[Christopher J. Fynn]

Yes I helped make the Tibetan Machine Uni  font, but actually "DDC Uchen" seems to work much better on mobile devices. (I have been using it for a long time on Nokia N9 and N900 phones and some Android devices)

We will make a new version of this font and put it under the Apache Licence.

At the same time I will add support for some additional combinations which people have requested - so it will take a few days.

I am also making bold and italic versions of DDC Uchen - but not Tibetan Machine Uni or Jomolhari - so eventually there will be proper support for those styles if you use DDC Uchen.

By the way - how do I make an add a Dzongkha (dz_BT) keyboard layout?

- Chris
Thimphu, Bhutan

Comment 7

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Christopher J. Fynn from comment #6)
Hello Chris, 
Actually I used Tibetan Machine Uni because this font provides support to view Tibetan , Dzongkha and Ladakhi and other Tibetan scripts and it uses GPL license. Do your font support those? Or only supports to view Dzongkha? Since Tibetan Machine Uni is released under GPL, I would like to request you to work on it and Improve it. (I am asking this question because I don't belong to your language and Don't know about the difference on Tibetan, Dzongkha and Ladakhi and other Tibetan alphabets.)
If DDC Uchen supports all those Tibetan alphabets, then we can use DDC Uchen and Push it to B2G. Before that, you have to release your font under GPL or Apache License.

As for the Keyboard layout, If you help me by providing info about current available dz-BT keyboard layouts. I maybe able to try and build one for B2G. And you may have to test the keyboard before publishing. 
You can email me by giving info about dz-BT keyboard layout. If you give me permission, Then I will mail you regarding that.

Comment 8

[Christopher J. Fynn]

(In reply to Rabbi Hossain comment #7)

Hi Rabbi

DDC Uchen supports all languages using Tibetan script including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese (Drejongkha), Sherpa, Lahouli, Ladakhi, and Balti. In addition the glyphs render larger, making them more legible on a small screen; and the glyph height is smaller - preventing tall combinations from being cut-off at the top or bottom. 

I will make a version we can release under Apache License. 

I will also send you by email all the info on the dz-BT keyboard.

- Chris

Comment 9

[Rabbi Hossain]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for giving me the information. When you release DDC UChen. I will replace Tibetan Machine Uni With DDC Uchen and send pull request on their GitHub repo again. 

> I will also send you by email all the info on the dz-BT keyboard.

You are welcome :)

Comment 10

[Rabbi Hossain]

Attachment: Patch to add Tibetan Script Font support on B2G

Comment 11

[Rabbi Hossain]

I just closed the previous pull request on github and created a new pull request.

Because, the previous "Tibetan Machine Uni" has some glyphs missing. So, I added "DDC Uchen". Which has better mobile rendering and no errors.

Comment 12

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

OFL is the preferred license for fonts in B2G.

Comment 13

[Rabbi Hossain]

Hello Wu,

Please check it carefully. I uploaded the DDC Uchen font and It is released under OFL License.

Previously I added "Tibetan Machine Uni" but I closed the PR.
Now I uploaded the DDC Uchen which is under OFL license.

Check the link below. I also added license info with the font file.

https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/moztt/pull/30

Comment 14

[Christopher J. Fynn]

(In reply to Michael Wu [:mwu] from comment #12)
> OFL is the preferred license for fonts in B2G.

DDC Uchen font is OFL
a copy of the license is embedded in the font itself.

Comment 15

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

CC'ing some people to see if there's interest here.

Comment 16

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Michael Wu [:mwu] from comment #15)
> CC'ing some people to see if there's interest here.

Thanks. Also check  bug 953033 , if possible.

Comment 17

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

(In reply to Michael Wu [:mwu] from comment #15)
> CC'ing some people to see if there's interest here.

I haven't tested the DDC Uchen font proposed here personally, but from a quick glance, it looks to be an excellent piece of work and I expect it would serve well.

In principle, I believe b2g should aim to include as standard at least one font that supports each of the world's scripts.

The only reasons I can think of to exclude any script would be (a) no adequate, freely-licensed font is available (in which case we should encourage or perhaps even sponsor the creation of one); or (b) lack of space on the device, if that becomes an acute issue as more fonts are added. In the case of (b), we might have to make some difficult judgement calls as to which scripts are most important to support - which obviously depends in part on the target market.

Of course, any partner intending to ship devices in a specific region such as Tibet might want to include additional fonts designed to suit that market. But the baseline for b2g should be that text in any language, any script can be legibly displayed. (We're nowhere near that yet, though!)

Comment 18

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

Thanks Jonathan. I'll do a quick review over the build details and then hand it over to you.

Comment 19

[Christopher J. Fynn]

FYI

Tibetan script is not only used for Tibetan but also used for writing Dzongkha the national language of Bhutan (and several minority Bhutanese languages; Drejongkha the language of Sikkim, some languages in Arunachel Pradesh; Ladakhi in Jammu and Kashmir; Lahouli in Himachel Pradesh as well as Sherap and several other languages in India. It is also used to write Balti.
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_script

The DDC Uchen font supports both Unicode Tibetan as well as Tibetan data encoded following GB/T

Comment 20

[Christopher J. Fynn]

The DDC Uchen font supports both Unicode Tibetan as well as Tibetan data encoded following the Chinese national standard GB/T 20542-2006 "Tibetan coded character set Extension A"

Comment 21

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

Chris, what is the canonical source for [the current version of] the DDC Uchen font? I looked at your page at https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/fonts/ddc-uchen, but there doesn't appear to be a Download link. (Is that an accidental omission?)

I found it as part of a larger Dzongkha Fonts archive on the http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/ site (e.g. under IT/ULinux-Instructions.en.php; there's also an .msi package somewhere), but it's difficult to be sure whether a source like that is always kept up to date.

Comment 22

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Jonathan Kew (:jfkthame) from comment #21)
Hello Jonathan,

you will find the font here at - http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/IT/download/fonts/

the font name is DDC Uchen.ttf 

as Chris said, the fonts licensing info is embedded with the font itself. Since Chris developed the font for Dzongkha Development Commission, so maybe the font was uploaded there. So, dzongkha.gov.bt is the main source to download the font. This font is kinda old and didn't got any update recently. But the font works well with mobile devices.

Comment 23

[Christopher J. Fynn]

Sorry for the delay 

I have created a repository dzongkha-fonts on sourceforge
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dzongkha-fonts/

You will find the current version of the DDC UChen font in the files section 
ddc_uchen v01.000.zip

There is a copy of the license in the zip file - but it as far as we are concerned it is not necessary to distribute this with the font as there is an identical license embedded in the font file itself.

I will also upload the sources for this font to the git repository of the same project.

thanks

- Chris

Comment 24

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

Thanks, Chris.

Rabbi, please update the PR to include the version number 1.000 in the directory name; also, I'd prefer to keep the font filename exactly as distributed (DDC_Uchen.ttf, with an underscore, not hyphen or space). And finally, it'd be good to squash the commits in the PR into a single commit for merging to moztt master. Then I think we'll be ready to go. Thanks!

Comment 25

[Rabbi Hossain]

(In reply to Jonathan Kew (:jfkthame) from comment #24)
> Thanks, Chris.
> 
> Rabbi, please update the PR to include the version number 1.000 in the
> directory name; also, I'd prefer to keep the font filename exactly as
> distributed (DDC_Uchen.ttf, with an underscore, not hyphen or space). And
> finally, it'd be good to squash the commits in the PR into a single commit
> for merging to moztt master. Then I think we'll be ready to go. Thanks!

updated the PR with version no, font info and also squashed the commit. done. please check it. :)

Comment 26

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

Comment on attachment 8385339 [details] [review]
Patch to add Tibetan Script Font support on B2G

Looks good to me, thanks!

Comment 27

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Master: b5151b89ff31e92dc44b466f15ad4909e73db248

Comment 28

[Rabbi Hossain]

Thanks for merging the PR and fixing it. Do I need to do anything regarding that?