Several pages on this website use Indic scripts to illustrate the native representation of names, places, quotes and literature. Unicode is the encoding used on this website and it contains support for a number of Indic scripts. However, before Indic scripts can be viewed or edited, support for Complex Text Layout must be enabled on your operating system. Some older operating systems do not support complex text rendering and you should not use such systems to edit Indic scripts.

This page lists the methods for enabling complex text rendering based on the operating environment or browser you are using. Many of the methods highlighted can be used for non-Indic complex scripts such as Arabic.

Check for existing support

Script Correct rendering Your computer Devanagari क + ि → कि

If the rendering on your computer matches the rendering in the images for the scripts, then you have already enabled complex text support! You should be able to view text correctly in that script.

Platform Independent support on Mozilla Firefox

Indic IME, a plugin for Firefox 1.0+ can help you write in many indian languages in your webpages. It is easy to install and works on all platforms where Firefox or other Mozilla-based browsers are running.

The Indic IME toolbar project was started to address the need of typing in Indian Languages in Web Forms, Emails, Blog, Search Boxes etc.

Padmas, a plugin for Firefox 2.0+ converts several Indic fonts to Unicode. This helps several popular Indian vernacular websites to render correctly, without the need for any additional font installation.

Windows 95, 98, ME and NT

These operating systems contain no inbuilt support for Indic scripts. Indic Scripts can only be seen properly in Internet Explorer. You also need to have a appropriate unicode font installed in your system for that script. It is suggested to install Internet Explorer 6.0 because it has better support for Indic scripts.

Mozilla Firefox does not support Indic scripts properly on these operating systems unless a modified version of the program is used, such as the one found here. This is due to a bug in Firefox. This bug is now removed in Firefox 3 Alpha. But Firefox 3 does not support Windows 98/ME.

No Unicode Keyboard Driver Engines (Like Indic IME, BarahaIME etc) are available for these older systems. One can either use online typing tools or offline text editors specially made for this purpose. A list of such tools is given here

Windows 2000

Complex text support needs to be manually enabled.

Viewing Indic text

1. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional Options > General [Tab].
2. In the "Language settings for this system" frame, check the box next to "Indic".
3. Copy the appropriate files from the Windows 2000 CD when prompted.
4. If prompted, reboot your computer once the files have been installed.

If you don't have the Windows CD or don't want to juggle with CD right now, you can simply download this zip file and extract its contents to a folder. When prompted for Windows CD, simply point to this folder using 'Browse' option of the prompt window.

Windows XP and Server 2003

Complex text support needs to be manually enabled.

Viewing Indic text

1. Go to Start > Control Panel.
2. If you are in "Category View" select the icon that says "Date, Time, Language and Regional Options" and then select Regional and Language Options".
3. If you are in Classic View select the icon that says "Regional and Language Options".
4. Select the "Languages" tab and make sure you select the option saying "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)". A confirmation message should now appear - press "OK" on this confirmation message.
5. Allow the OS to install necessary files from the Windows XP CD and then reboot if prompted.