Email and web-site applications that use Lao text in HTML documents are increasingly important, but creating (and even viewing) such pages remains difficult.

There are three main points to remember when using Lao either with email or in web pages:

• The fonts used by the person creating the message or web site must be available to the people receiving the message or viewing the site. Since Lao fonts are not yet installed with any version of Microsoft® Windows®, the fonts must either be installed on their computer, or included with the message or page information.
• In most cases, HTML messages and web pages will wrap text to fit the viewing window. With current versions of Windows, Lao text will only wrap correctly if (hidden or visible) breaks are inserted between words, either as the text is typed, or automatically, when using a keyboard mapping application such as Lao Script for Windows (with break insertion enabled). Microsoft® Windows® Vista (scheduled for release in 2006, and previously known as Longhorn) should support automatic wordwrap of Lao text without needing break insertion, but only for Lao Unicode fonts. Text created using older Lao fonts using hidden breaks will not wrap correctly with most browsers, even if breaks are inserted, as the break codes used are not recognized by the browsers.
• The codes used for storing the Lao text must be interpreted correctly by the application used for receiving or viewing the text. With most non-Unicode Lao fonts, browsers will either drop some Lao characters or display them incorrectly.

The lack of standards for Lao prior to Lao Unicode means that it is very difficult to ensure that these three conditions are satisfied with non-Unicode fonts. Messages or pages created with Lao Unicode fonts do work correctly, but only with applications that handle Unicode correctly. Unfortunately, most good website design applications (e.g. MacroMedia Dreamweaver) do not yet support the creation of web pages with Unicode text unless the language uses a codepage provided by Windows.

Here are some suggestions that may help.

• Use Lao Unicode fonts - especially Saysettha OT, which is clearer than other Lao fonts at small sizes - wherever possible.
• For webpage design, use Microsoft® FrontPage 2003, which supports the use of Lao Unicode fonts, with Lao Script for Windows to automatically insert non-visible line break characters between words. Although FrontPage does not have as many features as other website design applications, it is adequate for simpler sites.
• Many applications (e.g. Macromedia Dreamweaver) allow Lao Unicode text to be pasted into the document windows from the clipboard. Preparing material in Microsoft Word and copying it using the clipboard can often be a way around the input limitations of those applications.
• Although slower to view, a completely safe way to transmit documents with Lao text is to create Portable Document Format versions of the documents and send them (via email) or embed them (in HTML). Free software (e.g. PDF Creator) is available to easily turn any Word document into PDF format, embedding the fonts with the document.
• HTML documents may also be created with embedded fonts, using Microsoft's (freely available) WEFT font embedding tool. While this does not always overcome problems of non-standard Lao fonts, it can be useful for including a copy of (for example) the Saysettha OT font with the pages that are created to use that font.
• Microsoft® email and browser applications (Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer) conform to the Unicode standard more fully than most other similar applications, and will process and display Lao Unicode text correctly in most situations.