Turkish Fonts and Computing
Turkish presents unique challenges for computing since
it's alphabet is non-standard for English language based systems. Those problems can be easily resolved, and solutions
depend on what kind of computer you have, which browser you prefer, and what word processor (and html editor) you
use.
MacIntosh
The Mac is a viable machine despite a relatively small
market share compared to Wintel machines. Other than a few remarks offered here, Mac users are recommended to go
directly to Apple
Computer's website for the latest technology
and support for non-English language computing. Fonts can be found on the World Wide Web, but installation instructions
vary for users of System 7, OS 8 and 9. Apple's corporate website remains the best source of fixes, work arounds
and software updates supporting non-English computing on their machines. Apple runs an incredible number of listservs
from its Cupertinon headquarters, making up for not publishing documentation for their systems: you can always
join listservs for the latest in technical discussion for problem solving.
Font Sets for MacIntosh
In order to access and work with theTurkish materials, whether on the web or with word processing, you will need
Turkish fonts:
Click here to download
the folder containing the font(s) and keyboard mapping. A folder will appear on your desktop. Open this folder
on your desktop, drag the US-Modified keyboard icon onto your System Folder. Next, drag the downloaded fonts over
to your System Folder and install them. You need to make sure you have the right keyboard mapping: it should be
US Modified, with a small combined US-Turkish flag. If a little flag is visible on the right hand side (second
icon from the right) on the menu bar, you can either pull this down, or, you go to the Control Panel menu under
the Apple symbol, click on 'keyboard', and select the US- Modified mapping.
Additional font sets for MacIntosh use available at
this site:
Haberci
Havadis
Netscape
To display Turkish fonts, select 'Turkish(Mac)'
for 'Character set' by holding down the View Menu. Check now under Edit 'Preferences': For 'Languages', you should
show 'Turkish', if not, you need to add it, and place Turkish above English. For 'Fonts' for encoding select 'New
York', size 10 is fine, and 'Courier' is fine for fixed font. For 'Fonts', select the 'use my fonts' button. Upon
installing fonts, Turkish display should present no problem.
Wintel - The Windows & Intel Standard
By far the largest installation base of microcomputers are the Wintels (Windows operating system and Intel processor).
Depending on whether you're running Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows 98, some solutions will vary. Microsoft's
Windows 2000, rumored to be released in the first quarter of the year 2000, will migrate to a Unicode type standard.
With Unicode, problems with supporting non-English characters should be a thing of the past.
The best solution for Windows 3.1 is to upgrade to the latest version! Released in 1992, 3.1 was a quantum leap
forward; still, it did not support 32 bit processing, nor the vastly improved multitasking available today. Windows
3.1 supports all True Type fonts; however, the versions of Internet browsers and word processors for 3.1 represent
technological development as it was known up to 1995. Accordingly, newer, greatly refined computing just is not
accessible under 3.1. Windows 95 permits installation of additional language packages, as does Windows 98. Go to
Control Panel, open Add/Remover Software, select Windows Update, then select multinational language, and finally
Turkish appears as an option. You'll need your Windows CD for installing Turkish support.
Fonts
A significant part of the Windows 3.1 revolution consisted of embedding True Type fonts in Windows itself; prior
to that time, every software package contained its own founds. So, to display Turkish on an English Wintel machine,
the first thing you will need is some Turkish True Type fonts. Here are some links to websites with FREE downloadable
Turkish True Type fonts:
Turkishlingua
Learn Turkish Website
True Type Yazytipi Dosyalary
Or download and install some start up fonts here:
True Type Fonts
Installing Fonts
Unusual Turkish True Type font sets install very easily by Start => Settings => Control Panel => Fonts.
Standard font sets such as Times New Roman, Courier and Arial are readily available for Turkish, but to install
them you first must uninstall the standard versions which are part of your Windows' installation. The easiest way
to delete the old fonts then install the new is by downloading a copy of Font Wrangler.
Word Processing & HTML
Newer versions of Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect support both word processing and WYSIWYG website development
(HTML coding). Both readily support Turkish True Type fonts. There are two ways to use Turkish on a Wintel: (a)
redefining your keyboard to a Turkish keyboard, and (b) the greatly simpler, far less painful setting up of 'hot
keys' for characters unique to Turkish.
World Wide Web Browsers
The latest versions of Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer support a wide range of world languages.
Users of Microsoft Internet Explorer should go to Microsoft's 'Windows Update' site, then click on "Product Updates". Microsoft will run a little program that takes
an inventory of your system's configuration, then gives you a menu of choices for updating - some of which are
recommended as mandatory. In general, one should use Window's Update every forthnight to stay abreast of security
enhancements. Of the choices, a Turkish language package is available (also known as Pan-European). All enhancements
to MSIE download and install themselves; frequently they necessitating restarting you computer for the fixes to
take effect. To activate Turkish display in Internet Explore, from the tool bar at the top of the page, click on
View => Encoding => Turkish (Windows); the Auto-Select option works equally well.
Netscape
From the toolbar at the top of the Netscape pate, click on Edit => Preferences. The last choice activates a
new window taking up roughly half your screen. The left side of that window shows a schematic diagram; click on
Languages just under Navigator. A new menu window will appear on the right side of the screen; click on Add, scroll
through the selection menu until you find Turkish, click on it, then click on OK; then click on OK with the screen
that reappears. Now your Netscape is ready for Turkish language websites!
Netscape regularly releases updates. For a first time installation, go to Netscape's corporate website. It is recommended that you download the latest version of Netscape to your hard drive instead
of performing a remote installation.
Caution: When upgrading from versions of Netscape earlier than 4.0, first download the latest version
and then uninstall the earlier version. Since release of version 4, Netscape installs to different directories
than in the past, thereby not righting over old files, leaving you with two versions of Netscape and hours of resulting
confusion and system conflict problems.
LINUX
Linux is the up and coming operating system for the Intel/AMD family of processors, and recent Federal court findings
against Microsoft will no doubt result in an surge of Linux based operating systems as powerful alternatives to
Windows for a fraction of the cost. While Corel has dropped support of WordPerfect for MacIntosh, it is aggresively
developing the Linux standard (a UNIX like system). Turkish fonts for Linux can be found on the Web. Developed
by an international consortium of more than 10,000 volunteers, Linux will likely outpace commercial interests as
the standard of the near future. Contact the international Linux clearinghouse.
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