Re: Indic in Mozilla

[taneem eyetap org]

Hi,

Ankur group (http://www.bengalinux.org) has been working to support Bangla for 
a while, and we would be more than happy to work on Mozilla. Where is the main 
discussion taking place? Can someone please give us details about this project?

Thanks,
Taneem

Quoting Edward Cherlin <cherlin pacbell net>:

> Translators, fonts, coders needed for full Indic support in 
> Mozilla. I'm talking to several groups of font developers about 
> this, including some at GNU-India working on the Akruti fonts.
> 
> ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
> 
> Subject: Re: Devanagari in Mozilla: some issues
> Date: Friday 18 April 2003 08:45 pm
> From: alok kumar mailjol com (Alok Kumar)
> To: mozilla-i18n mozilla org
> 
> from indic-computing-users lists sourceforge net
> 
> We are looking for people to help us localize Mozilla to Indian
>  languages. Rediff has agreed to hire people for this and their
>  objective is to encourage the
> penetration of the Internet in India. The programmers will work
>  closely with the IndLinux.org team to localize Mozilla and the
>  software thus developed will
> be released in the public domain. This would be a good
>  opportunity for those passionate about Indian language
>  computing to work full-time in this area. The individuals
>  selected will work out of Rediff's Mumbai office.
> 
> More details are below. Those interested are requested to write
>  to us at: venky indlinux org and karunakar indlinux org
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Venky
> 
> 
> Mozilla Indianization
> ==============
> 
> 1) Goal: Enable Mozilla browser to display & handle indian
>  languages properly, with proper font technology available.
>  Localize Mozilla interface also to indian languages.
> 
> 2) Project Requirements: All work done should be contributed
>  back to Mozilla codebase, so that it becomes part of it.
>  Solutions arrived at should make into main tree, rather than be
>  done as adhoc hacks / addons / patches.
> 
>  i) i18n part (involving changing mozilla codebase) :
>  a - Should be able to render Indian languages encoded in
>  Unicode/UTF-8 b - Use a standardized font technology - eg
>  OpenType.
>  c - Support any encodings standardized for a language eg ISCII,
>  TSCII, KSCLP (KGP)
> 
>  ii) l10n part (no code change - UI customization, translations
>  of UI and Help text):
>  a - Incorporate locale support (chrome level)
>  b - Translate Mozilla UI into indian languages
>  c - Making indianized mozilla theme - custom graphics, logos
> 
> 3) Skill sets req
>  a - Knowlegde of at least two Indian languages - reading &
>  writing, script & language processing level  2.i & 2.ii.b
>  b - C, C++, XML, Java for 2.i
>  c - Graphics expertise for 2.ii.c
>  d - For translator - good vocabulary in English & at least one
>  Indian language, previous exp in translation also helpful.
>  e - Proj. mgmt skills, ability to work with volunteers
>  remotely, coordinate work through email/IM/group meetings.
>  f - Interest in localization and passion for having indian
>  languages on mozilla.
>  g - Work experience of 2-3 years in the IT industry
> 
> Current status:
>  Mozilla supports Unicode, so all indian languages represented
>  in Unicode work at unicode level - no proper rendering, if  a
>  suitable unicode font is available. ie proper vowel sign
>  positioning, conjuncts etc are not avialable. Some work is on
>  by Prabhat Hegde from Sun Microsystems on adding devanagari
>  support, basically by using Pango (www.pango.org) rendering
>  engine. He is exploring doing it using Opentype fonts. (Any one
>  working for this should work with Prabhat for
> guidance & review, as he already has experience in Mozilla
>  codebase )
> 
> Some hindi translation work has been done by a group based in
>  Mumbai, available at http://www.bttlindia.com/mozilla/ . Some
>  translation work for Tamil is also on. (These translations
>  should be reused, instead of starting from scratch)
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 2.i has to be done in active participation with Mozilla
>  developers & done at those forums ( mozilla-i18n , mozilla-l10n
>   )
> 2.ii.b is pure translation work, can be done in centralized or
>  distributed fashion.
>  2.i.c - Since ISCII, TSCII etc are not registered character
>  sets, it may not be possible to use them with Mozilla
>  autodetection feature. Some workaround could be suggested.
>  ISCII text will basically be converted to Unicode internally
>  for display, enabled through use of 'iso8829-12' reserved for
>  Indic - ISO is waiting for us to settle to something :). (The
>  rationale to support ISCII is since ISCII chars will take
>  1byte, UTF-8 indic characters take 3bytes, or  7 bytes when
>  used as named
> character references - The debate will pick up heat when indian
>  languages are fully supported )
> 
> -0-
> 
> > > > ==
> > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-hindi/
> > > > can't see Hindi?
> > > > http://geocities.com/alkuma/seehindi.html
> >
> > ==========================
> > free hindi unicode editor at
> > www.geocities.com/hanu_man_ji
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> -- 
> Edward Cherlin
> Generalist & activist--Linux, languages, literacy and more
> "A knot! Oh, do let me help to undo it!"
> --Alice in Wonderland
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gtk-i18n-list mailing list
> gtk-i18n-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-i18n-list
> 




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