Help:Free Unicode fonts

From FrathWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Since many pages on this wiki make use of more or less arcane Unicode characters I put together this list of freely available Unicode fonts. Some of it is still just links to links culled from Wikipedia; I'll fix that eventually. I will also update the style class used by Template:IPA accordingly. You should use the IPA template {{IPA|[laɪk ˈðɪz]}} to make at least your IPA visible to Internet Explorer users...

Here are some Templates for using web fonts

Freeware Unicode fonts listed at Wikipedia

  • The DejaVu fonts are highly recommended for legibility, although somewhat lacking in non-Latin characters (but contains basic Cyrillic and [polytonic] Greek). It is also very readable on screen under Windows, unlike many other fonts listed here.
  • Junicode is especially cool if you like Old English and/or old typography
  • ClearlyU Wikipedia article
  • Free UCS Outline Fonts Wikipedia article — Times/Arial lookalike

Other free Unicode fonts listed at Wikipedia

  • Bitstream Cyberbit Wikipedia article (free for non-commercial use only)
  • Bitstream Vera Wikipedia article
  • Cardo (free for non-commercial and non-profit uses) — Times lookalike
    • Download is here (hard to find on the page!)
    • Cardo Wikipedia article
  • Code2000 is shareware — not the world's most elegant font, but with extremely good coverage.
  • Gentium is very good looking and has good Latin and Greek coverage. Has italic but no bold style. The combining palatal and retroflex hooks are interchanged (the developers are notified of this.)
  • The Medieval Unicode Font Initiative defines several useful characters in the Unicode Wikipedia:Private Use Area. See the MUFI font page for fonts that cover it. ATM Andron Scriptor Web has the best MUFI coverage, although its coverage of other useful Unicode ranges like IPA is less than satisfying. Careful use of Template:MUFI for just those characters included in MUFI is advised!
  • Doulos SIL is good if you want a Times lookalike. The new version is much improved with correct stacking of diacritics.
  • Charis SIL is awesome, with the same coverage as Doulos SIL plus italic/bold/bold italic styles, and correct diacritic stacking. Somewhat heavy looking.
  • TITUS Cyberbit Basic (page disfigured by frames!)

Other

Special fonts for conlangs