Tamil font encoding standard
& standardised Tamil keyboard
The efforts to agree a Tamil font encoding standard and a
standardised Tamil keyboard which took a major step forward in
Chennai in February 1999 at the
TamilNet'99 International Conference came to fruition with the
unveiling of the new keyboard and
encoding scheme by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr.M.Karunanidhi on 13 June
1999.
The
Tamil Nadu Government Order
of 13 June 1999, set out the approved schemes of encoding Tamil
glyphs as well as the layout for Tamil
Keyboard. The Order states that no standard needs to be recommended now for
the Romanised keyboard.Tamil is now, the first language in
India to have a standardised keyboard and encoding scheme for use in information
technology.
The Hindu reported on 13 June 1999:
"The new standards come into existence from today and the Government will
make them available to the users through various forums including the
Internet. The keyboard and the coding system are the final results of an
international endeavour of Tamil users in which scholars, technologists,
linguists and Governments participated. Though it started with a conference
in Singapore years back, the decisive phase started with
TamilNet99, organised by the State Government in February....
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Tamil in Information
Technology (IT) would handle the Rs. 5 crore software development fund and
three institutions would work on this. Dr. Anandakrishnan said the software
projects under the fund would not be 'pedestrian' but advanced, on
development of a Tamil browser, software for English-Tamil translation and
voice recognition.
The Chief Minister announced that Tiruvarur District would run a pilot
project for information technology in governance. Mr. Karunanidhi recalled
the services of the
late Mr. Govindasamy from Singapore, who contributed immensely to the
standardisation efforts.
Dr. Anandakrishnan, said one of the most important features of the keyboard
was that all letters could be typed without using the 'shift' keys. The
input for this came from Mr. Govindasamy's 'Kanian' keyboard. The shift-key
positions were used for 'grandha' letters and utility symbols like Rs.,
debit and credit. Some shift-key positions were still vacant and could be
used. The left side of the keyboard occupied vowels and the right side, the
consonants.
In the monolingual 'Glyph' encoding scheme, aimed mainly at meeting the
needs of the software development for desktop publishing and printing
industry, the fonts would have 'TAM' prefix as 'TA' was an internationally
accepted abbreviation for Tamil in IT.
In the bilingual encoding scheme, which would be useful for simple
applications like text-processing and e-mail, the fonts would have 'TAB'
prefix. The schemes could be used in operating systems like Windows,
Macintosh and Unix.
The State Government had become a member of the 'UNICODE' consortium to
facilitate the submission of the character coding standard. The Information
Technology Department would send the proposal to accept the encoding
standard to UNICODE, whose experts will meet in Chennai on June 24.
Earlier, Mr. Murasoli Maran, Chairman, ReceptionCommittee, said the new
standards would help take IT to people. An overwhelming response came from
diaspora Tamils, he said."
Tamil Nadu
Government Order on Standardisation
Information Technology Department, Tamil Nadu
Government Order.Ms.No.17 - Dated:13.06.99
Abstract : Information Technology - Standardisation of Tamil
KeyBoard and Encoding of Tamil Glyphs - Recommendations of the Sub -
Committee on Tamil in Information Technology - Accepted - Orders - Issued
Read: 1. Government Order.Ms.No.3, Information
Technology Department, dated 19.2.99.
2. From the Vice-Chairman, Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education and
Chairman, Sub-Committee on Tamil in Information Technology, Letter dated
1.6.99.
Order
In the Government Order first read above, a working Group and an
International Technical Committee were constituted to evaluate the technical
issues and finalise coding standards for Tamil, based on the consensus arrived
at during the International Conference and Seminar on Tamil in Information
Technology (Tamilnet99) held at Chennai on 7th and 8th February 1999. To
facilitate this process, the
TamilNet 99 recommendations were made available on a dedicated internet
website
http://www.tamilnet99.org
from mid-February 1999.
2. Considerable feedback was received from researchers, software developers
and enthusiasts throughout the world and these were first analysed by the
Working Group and later by the members of the International Technical Committee.
Based on the final suggestions of the International Technical Committee, the
Sub-Committee on Tamil in Information Technology of the State Information
Technology Task Force has proposed monolingual and bilingual encoding schemes
for Tamil glyphs and a standard Tamil Keyboard layout. The Chairman of this
Sub-Committee has recommended these to the Government for approval
3. The Government, after careful consideration, approve the schemes of
encoding Tamil glyphs as well as the
layout for Tamil Keyboard submitted by the Chairman of Sub-Committee on Tamil in
Information Technology
as detailed below:
(a) Tamil Keyboard
(i) The approved layout for keyboard is at
Annexure - I and it may be named as "Tamil99" Keyboard in English and in
Tamil :
(ii) The key sequence for the "Tamil99" keyboard is at Annexure - II
(iii) The present layout and sequencing of mechanical typewriter
(Remington) keyboard is to be maintained excepting the replacement of the
sign " " with the sign
"™"so as to make the letter "™"
available for typing and to ensure an easy transition to the existing users;
and,
(iv) No standard needs to be recommended now for the Romanised
keyboard.
(b) Glyph Coding Schemes:
(i) The Monolingual Glyph coding schemes for Tamil is at Annexure - III.
This will be useful for meeting the needs of software development for the
desktop publishing and printing industry. The fonts based on this scheme
will have TAM" prefixed to the font names, since "TA" is an internationally
accepted abbreviation for Tamil in the Information Technology industry and
"M" denotes monolingual;
(ii) The Bilingual Glyph coding scheme for Tamil is at Annexure - IV This
will be useful for meeting the needs of software development for simple
applications like text-processing, e-mail etc. The fonts based on this
scheme will have "TAB" prefixed to the font names, "TA" being the
abbreviation for Tamil and "B" denoting bilingual; and
(iii) Tamil Software developers can provide Tamil Numerals as symbol fonts.
4. Character Coding Standard:
In order to facilitate the submission of a revised character coding standard
for Tamil to "UNICODE", the Government of Tamil Nadu have become an Associate
Member in the Unicode Consortium, USA.On finalisation of the proposal for
revising the character coding standard by the Sub_Committee on Tamil in
Information Technology, further action will be taken by the Information
Technology Department for sending this proposal to 'UNICODE' for adoption.
5. Tamil Keyboard manufacturers and Tamil Software developers are expected to
use the specifications in para 3 above in their products. Future purchases of
Tamil Keyboards and Tamil Software by Government Departments/
Undertakings/Corporations/Boards etc., while subject to codal formalities, will
be made only from manufacturers who certify that their products conform to these
specifications.
(By Order of the Governor)
D.PRAKASH
Secretary to Government
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