Dai Banna SIL Fonts   (version 2.000)  6 Dec 2007
Read Me
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These files constitute the first Unicode release of the Dai Banna SIL Fonts.  (Version 1.0 was released in 1999 in legacy encoding under the name of SIL Dai Banna Fonts.)  The package includes a set of eight font files for displaying texts in the New Tai Lue script.

After decompressing the package archive, follow the instructions in the User Guide (DaiBannaSIL.pdf) to install the fonts.

You may (and are encouraged to) freely share these fonts and utilities with your friends and co-workers, but must comply with the terms set forth in the SIL Open Font License (OFL.txt).


KNOWN ISSUES

< Chinese punctuation marks rendered in other fonts instead - Windows >
Although the Dai Banna SIL fonts contain glyphs for some characters in the CJK Symbols and Punctuation block and the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block, certain applications on Microsoft Windows will automatically choose a default Asian text font to display these characters instead.  This is *not* a defect of our fonts but rather a failure of the applications and/or operating system to recognise Dai Banna SIL as containing Asian (CJK) glyphs.

E.g., in a run of New Tai Lue text displayed in Dai Banna SIL Book, Microsoft Word 2003 renders all Chinese punctuation using SimSun and there is no way to override it, for Dai Banna SIL Book is not even allowed to be selected as an Asian text font.

In the case of OpenOffice.org Writer 2.3.0 and 2.3.1, the same faulty font fallback mechanism applies, but only when a run of New Tai Lue text is *not* preceded by Asian (CJK) text, and it can be overridden: Just highlight the whole run of New Tai Lue text and select one of the Dai Banna SIL fonts in the font combo box.  Subsequent input of Chinese punctuation will then also be displayed correctly.  Alternatively, you can input all New Tai Lue characters and Chinese punctuation via the Insert Special Character dialog box using one of the Dai Banna SIL fonts.  All characters so inserted will be displayed in the correct font.

Windows WordPad will display in the correct font as long as you are typing the characters into the document.  As soon as you copy and paste a Chinese punctuation mark, WordPad will default to SimSun just like Word 2003.  However, there is a work-around: highlight the characters in concern, select 'Western' in the Font Script combo box and select one of the Dai Banna SIL fonts in the Font combo box.

Both SIL WorldPad 2.4.2006.12069 and Windows NotePad do not exhibit such font fallback problems.

< OpenOffice 2.3.0 freezes on line-breaking >
When the user inputs a run of New Tai Lue text up to the right margin where further input should normally be wrapped to the next line, OpenOffice.org Writer 2.3.0 freezes.  This problem also occurs on Calc.  This is due to a bug in the OpenOffice 2.3.0 framework.  A bug report is available at http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=84000.  This problem has been fixed in version 2.3.1, which the user is advised to download at http://download.openoffice.org/2.3.1/.

< Graphite-enabled OpenOffice 2.0 crashes - Windows >
When a Dai Banna SIL font is selected in this version of Graphite-OpenOffice, the application will crash.  This is due to the existence of bugs in the 2.0 code base.  The user is advised to wait for a newer Graphite-enabled version of OpenOffice or use the standard OpenOffice 2.3.1 suite, available at http://download.openoffice.org/2.3.1/, for the time being.

< Characters running into each other >
There are character combinations that will result in letters running into each other.  The fonts do have kerning information that will respace these letters correctly.  Many programs, however, do not support kerning.  In those cases you can manually insert thin spaces (U+2009, included in Dai Banna SIL) if you wish.

< Documentation troublesome in Acrobat Reader 3 - Windows >
When printing the User Guide from Acrobat Reader 3 to a PostScript printer, some of the standard Roman characters and punctuation may print with the wrong font (such as Times New Roman or Courier New).  The New Tai Lue characters, however, should print out correctly.  Using Acrobat Reader 4 or above will avoid this problem.

< Documentation troublesome in Acrobat Reader 3 - Macintosh >
When viewing the User Guide in Acrobat Reader 3, the Reader may complain about the embedded fonts and state that "some characters may not display or print correctly".  Some of the punctuation characters (such as the bullet, paragraph mark, etc.) may appear as boxes.  The New Tai Lue characters, however, should display correctly.  When printing to a PostScript printer, though, many of the fonts may be incorrect.  Using Acrobat Reader 4 or above will avoid these problems.

Non-Roman Script Initiative
SIL International 
7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd.
Dallas, TX 75236   USA 
Phone (972) 708-7495 
Fax (972) 708-7387
Email: sil_fonts@sil.org
WWW: scripts.sil.org
