Last updated: 2007-12-05 This blog has content in Sinhala lanaguage. This is an example: මේ සිත් සටහන තුල සිංහල බසින් ලියවුන ලිපි ඇත.

Here’s how to install Sinhala & Tamil Unicode Support in Windows. Before you begin make sure you meet the following. Windows XP Professional – Home or Media. How to Install Fonts – Unicode Kit from Local Languages Portal. Download Video Woodstock 1999 Photos. Install Sinhala Unicode Kit from locallanguages.lk site (for XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux etc).

Preceeding text would appeat to you as question marks or small boxes if you do not have Sinhala support in your computer. Fortunately, enabling your computer for reading and writting Sinhala (and Tamil) with Unicode is really easy.

Here are some instructions for getting started Please note that you need administrative privileges for this. If you do not, please bug/harass the person who has until he/she relents and do this for you. 🙂 Generally, if you can install programs in your computer If you are using Windows XP • Make sure that you have Windows XP Service Pack 2. • Right click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. • In the “General” tab, under “System” it should say “Service Pack 2”. • If not, install “Service Pack 2”. You may download it from.

• Download the Sinhala and Tamil enabling pack from this link: (15.8 MB) • After closing all open programs, run the downloaded “exe” file. • After the automatic installer completes, restart the computer. That’s it, you are good to go! If you want to make your Sinhala text look better: • Use “Clear Type” font smoothing. • Write click on desktop and get “Properties”. (This brings up the “Display Properties” dialog) • From “Apperence” tab, Click on “Effects” button. • Check “Use following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:” and select “Clear Type”.

(This is best for LCD displays and high resolution CRT displays) • and install the MalithiWeb Unicode font. • Specify “Malithi Web” as the default font for Sinhala (or complex script) from your web browser. • For example, in IE6: Tools –>Internet options –>click on the “Fonts ” button (at the bottom) • Select “Sinhala” from the “Language script” list box. • For “Web page font” select “Malithi Web” Other Sinhala Unicode fonts that you can use are, If you followed these directions but still run into trouble, please post a description of the problem as a comment to this page.

I would be glad to help. On the other hand, if you do get it working, I would still love to hear from you If you are using Windows 98 or Windows 2000 (and have Internet Explorer 6 or greater): Download the Sinhala enabler for IE6 from this link: (1.5MB) Run the downloaded exe file.

This allows you to read, but not write in Sinhala. If you are using Windows Vista: Windows Vista already supports Sinhala and Tamil. However, you may need to download the “Vista Fix” from (2.3 MB) and install it.

If you are using Linux: Please refer to the excellent guide.

Windows • • • This information may not be useful since the fonts.lk is no longer operational; we recommend that you install Sinhala Unicode Support on your computer if your running Windows XP SP2 or SP3 English Version, Step by Step Information can be found at the bottom of the page *** • If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or a later version running on Windows, simply install the and restart your computer. • Right click on your Desktop, choose Properties, go to Advanced/Appearance tab, click on Effects and choose as the method to smooth edges of screen fonts.

(As stated in the linked wikipedia article on ClearType, you might prefer to keep the method to smooth edges of screen fonts at the default Standard setting if you are using a CRT monitor instead of a flat-panel). • Change Character Encoding to UTF-8 Unicode in your browser ( VIEW-->ENCODING in most browsers). • Go to Tools-->Options, click on Fonts, choose Malithi Web as the default font. Or • If you use Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Netscape or an older version of Internet Explorer, please download the Sinhala Unicode font. Use your browser options to 'Download Linked File'.

Look in your download area for FM-MalithiUW46.ttf. If the file name ends in.txt, delete it so that it ends '.ttf'. • Install it on your computer. For Windows, simply copy the font to your Windows Fonts folder. • In Windows, right click on your Desktop, choose Properties, go to Advanced/Appearance tab, click on Effects and choose as the method to smooth edges of screen fonts. (As stated in the linked wikipedia article on ClearType, you might prefer to keep the method to smooth edges of screen fonts at the default Standard setting if you are using a CRT monitor instead of a flat-panel). • Change Character Encoding to UTF-8 Unicode in your browser ( VIEW-->ENCODING in most browsers).

• Go to Tools-->Options, (-->Content in Firefox 1.5) click on Fonts, choose Malithi Web as the default font. Linux • Most modern GNU/Linux distributions support Unicode Sinhala. However, in some cases the required software packages may need to be installed explicitly. For Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu distributions, refer to.

Mac OS X • Mac OS Lion (10.7) comes with Sinhala Unicode support with phonetic and standard Wijesekara keyboard layouts, how ever there are some rendering issues. • For older version of Mac OS can run a version of Malithi Web is now available from This font is not fully functional, but is a big improvement over the unmodified OpenType fonts. Also resontly ICTA has developed a version of there font Bashitha that works on MAC OS with less issues then then Nicholas's Malithi version.

• Alternatively, for 50 USD (about 5,400 rupees) a professional quality Sinhala font and keyboard layout can be purchased from. IPhone • Sinhala Unicode is officially provided for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch by Apple with iOS4 or higher. How ever if your using a older version of the iOS.

Jailbroken iOS devices can now get Sinhala Support on all application by Installing a on the iPhone. Android • is available for free with full Sinhala Unicode support for Android 2.2 & above. Read more about this app from or from. • Sinhala Unicode can be partially installed on Google Nexus One & on other android based phones by following the. However there are rendering issues to be addressed. Writing Sinhala • After following the above steps, you can use the Windows character map program to type in Sinhala. • On Android & iOS Mobile devices, you can use to type in Sinhala. Magic Of The Pendragons Rar File.

Helakuru is available as a free app on & to download. Or • if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7/2008, you already have the Sinahla Unicode Support on your PC, you can install Windows 7/2008 on Windows 7/2008. • If you have, install the Sinhala Enabling Pack for XP by clicking and. • This has been developed by Microsoft and endorsed by the Sri Lankan government.

• Read the instructions before you install it, Step by Step Guide can be found at the bottom of the page. • It lets you toggle seamlessly between typing English and Sinhala using the language button on the task bar. This is, by far, the best solution. It uses the standard Wijesekera layout. • You can type in Unicode just as easily as you do with any other Sinhala or English font. Or • If you don't have Windows XP SP2 but have an older version of Windows and Microsoft Office XP, you can download the Sinhala Pack for Office XP.

• This lets you type Sinhala documents in MS Word. You can copy and paste what you write in Wikipedia. You will need to have your XP CD handy. Or • If you are using a version of Windows other than XP SP2, you can use the to type in Sinhala unicode. • It's a small background program that intercepts what you type and converts it to the Sinhala unicode format.

• You can type in phonetics, Wijeysekara layout or Singlish (ea kiyanne mehema type karana eka) and the program will type it in Sinhala on any open window (MS Word etc). Or • You can use the online version of the by the.

Simply type Sinhala using English letters (singlish). Or • You can use the online version of the by Kaputa Dot Com (කපුටා.com) or • You can use the by the. Or • You can use the by the. This is a great tool if you have a or • If you cannot type using a Sinhala keyboard, you can use a fonotic transcoder software like at to get Sinhala Unicode text for corresponding English letter combinations.

Or • There is a version of software called Google IME that has a phonetic keyboard and works well on the and on the running windows XP, Vista or 7 witch comes with a natural phonetic input support. Still having problems? • about the problems you're having. Sinhala Unicode is relatively new and it may take a while to have universal support.

• We have found & on Windows XP Service Pack 2 to deliver the best results. • If you cannot read any Sinhala letters in the main page, correct the character encoding in your browser as we have explained. • If the letters appear rough, change to Cleartype as described above. • And not Kaputa or Kandy or eKottu? Unicode is the international standard for non-Latin scripts. It is Wikipedia's policy to use Unicode fonts in international sister sites. This is to ensure universal usability.

You cannot use non Unicode fonts to search in Wikipedia. See other sister sites such as and to understand its capabilities. • Currently, Sinhala does not come built in with Windows XP unlike Tamil and Hindi. However, all versions of Windows Vista come with Sinhala support by default, and do not require external fonts to be installed to read Sinhala script.

• There are also some complaints about the lack of pilis in Sinhala Unicode. This is a misunderstanding due to the fact that some modifiers such as yansaya and repaya are not explicitly included in the Unicode code chart. However, these modifiers are included in the glyph tables and can be typed into documents using the appropriate combination of characters. The Sinhala keyboard layout recommended by ICTA include keys for both these modifiers.

• Current Sinhala enabling patch does not support touching letters and some composite characters. • Feel free to discuss these issues. External links • • • • • • • • • • • • • google group • • (non-unicode) • (unicode) • unicode font • unicode font • •.