Which Lao fonts should I use?
Current Recommendation
In all new documents, only Unicode-coded Lao OpenType fonts should be used. However, the notes below may be helpful for understanding the the different types of fonts found in older documents.
See Using Lao fonts on web pages for advice on how to ensure that Lao text will be correctly displayed on your web pages.
Previous advice (before Lao Unicode was generally adopted by platforms and applications)
Before Microsoft released a version of Microsoft Windows that supported Lao language, a number of other partial solutions were created to allow the use of Lao with Windows applications. These solutions used different coding systems, and some used a keyboard manager to allow the use of the standard Lao typewriter layout (or other layouts) with 8-bit coded Lao fonts, while others used standard 7-bit ASCII coding but simply replaced the characters normally found at those code points by the appropriate Lao characters for the Lao typewriter layout.
When considering which fonts to use, apart from appearance, four issues should be considered:
- Is word-wrapping important? For large amounts of text, it is much more convenient if the text can be entered without having to think about breaking each line by hand. This becomes important whenever text must be edited or revised, to prevent minor changes resulting in every subsequent line needing adjusting.
- Do you need both Lao and English characters in a single font? While in word-processing this usually does not matter, in many other applications (such as spreadsheets and database applications) it is often important to be able to mix languages in a single entry, for which a common font must be used.
- Are numeric characters and symbols interpreted by the application program correctly? Many Lao fonts have the codes normally used for numbers and arithmetic symbols assigned to other characters, which leads to program errors, especially in spreadsheet and database applications. The hyphen code, in particular, is often recognised as a minus sign, and must be used with care.
- Do you need a wide range of styles? For headings, or for brochures, the above factors are usually less important than being able to choose from a wide range of font styles.
No single system is currently able to meet all of these needs. Where word-wrapping is important, or where both Lao and English characters are required in a single font, the fonts supplied with Lao Script for Windows (such as Saysettha Lao, Alice5 Lao, Bubble Lao, etc.) provided the most satisfactory solution.
For numeric characters and symbols to be interpreted correctly, the fonts provided with newer versions of Lao Script for Windows (e.g. Saysettha 2000, or Saysettha 95) may sometimes be more suitable, since the code for the hyphen (minus) character in those fonts is not used for the invisible break character.
Where a wide range of styles are needed, and where word-wrap is unimportant, many 7-bit and 8-bit Lao fonts are available which can be used without requiring a keyboard manager program, such as the HongKad series of fonts, Alice_0, Sengchanh, etc. Such fonts could be useful especially for advertising materials, brochures, etc.
Fonts that conform to the Unicode standard for Lao will not conflict with other coding conventions, and can be used safely in all applications that support Unicode. Lao Script for Windows 6.0 (and later) provided support for Unicode-coded Lao fonts and included a set of Lao Unicode fonts.