This article now left as archived purpose, written on 2005-10-24 03:40:25 +0800. The latest and the more appropriate version referred to http://www.mmlt.org/portal/myanmar-unicode-public-awareness

There are fonts called PonNya_Web(mamboforge), MyaZedi(earlier version from myazedi.com/etrademyanmar.com), UniBurma(from this project), bit(burmait.net), Mandalay(mahamunipagoda.org.mm) spread through on net as Myanmar unicode font. Perhaps, there can be more which i didn't notice. Please take note that all of above fonts are not actual unicode font. I assumed all these as "partial unicode fonts". So, if you are seeking Myanmar unicode font for translation, be aware about this.

Currently, the fonts which support Myanmar Unicode(both rendering algorithm and glyph map) are

Paduakg[For Graphite enabled programs]
Myanmar1 [The most Unicode compatible to now|Need latest uniscribe]
UniMM [Dev-Alpha]
May be more...

Only Myanmar1 is currently the most opentype support only on Microsoft Window with keyboard input package. In second rank, Paduakg and its keyboard package is the most opentype support.

I, rolled back UniBurma Packages download after Myanmar1 released from NLP. UniMM is still under development stage and i need a little more time on this because i was trying to implement both Apple GX and Microsoft Window support font called "Truetype Open" leading towards all system compatibility.

If you happened to use any "partial unicode fonts" then you may face a different result. MyaZedi, UniBurma, Mandalay and bit has similiar character map feature so those who are using across between these fonts may not face any strange result and just fontface(style) may different. But PonNya_Web is different from all above. I won't recommand to use any of these partial unicode fonts in live enviroment which mean just use in not important area of your interest. By technically, these partial fonts are not support for fall back rendering algorithm and especially in Search Engine as such scripts, etc.

If you are doing in dynamic web base software solution, all these partial unicode fonts can see through Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Safari and these browsers have a capability to render with proper font from system available fonts. But not on Internet Explorer and unless you are using html font face tag to force display with your specified fonts. But using font face tag is not recommanded by w3 and you have to use it with style

Use styles (instead of the < font > tag) to define the font face, font size, and font color of text.

For IE, CSS style coding somehow you still have to split it from Latin fonts CSS tag unless you update your uniscribe to latest from volt msn community. This is base on the CSS font mixture concept of using Latin fonts(Vedarna, Arial, Times) with any of Myanmar partial unicode fonts. For example: font-family: UniBurma, 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;

You may somehow try Myanmar1 and Paduakg but it may still lease in some features and you may not achieve to write in full meaning of Myanmar(Burmese) phrases and sentences.

Partial Unicode Fonts and Keyboard System

• Myazedi
• Zawgyi-One
• bit
• bit-rfa
• PonNya_Web
• Mandalay
• UniBurma

If you have any issue or comment about this topic, you can mail to victorlin21[at]gmail[dot]com