Urdu Nastaliq Unicode

Why this font?

• There are many Urdu fonts available on the Net, Umair, Alkatib, Khat-e Naqsh, Urdu Web, to name a few. The problem is that each of these fonts uses a different character coding, thus the webpages created for a particular font are unique for that font. The result is that displaying Urdu text in the web pages is a big mess, with each font promoting its own character code.
• Unicode is changing all this. Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter what the platform, no matter what the program, no matter what the language!
• Urdu Nastaliq Unicode font uses the Unicode character coding, thus adopting a fast developing standard in displaying scripts.
• There are a few Unicode compatible Urdu fonts, like the Persian Nesf2 font and the TITUS Cyberbit Basic font. But all of these use the Naskh style. Urdu Nastaliq Unicode font uses the Nastaliq style, which is what is natural for writing Urdu. The difference is here for you to see:

Urdu Nastaliq Unicode	TITUS Cyberbit Basic

• Because Urdu Nastaliq Unicode is a Unicode font, you no longer need your software to put the characters in reverse order. Unicode has built in information that the Arabic/Urdu script is written right-to-left. So your software puts the characters sequentially, and the Unicode compatible web browsers, like Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Netscape 6 will display them right to left.
  Thus, Urdu text can now have floating images and lines wrap properly, irrespective of the browser width!
• Urdu Nastaliq Unicode uses those particular characters out of the Unicode Arabic and Arabic Presentation Forms, which are necessary for displaying Urdu, and leaves out the ones specific to Arabic. For example, many existing Unicode fonts do not have the characters and which are very much needed to make the script look good.

Here is one exmaple of the text generated using Urdu Nastaliq Unicode:

These are, of course, images of Urdu text generated by the font. To see the font in action, first you must....

Download the Urdu Nastaliq Unicode font!

• Click H E R E to download the self-extracting zip file, u-font.exe.
• Run the file u-font.exe, and a directory named urdufont will be created, with the font file nastaliq_unicode.ttf, and some help files.
• Install the font by going to Settings/Control Panel/Fonts, and choosing "install a new font".

• Once you have the font installed, check out this Ghazal in Unicode Urdu.
  
• Also check out this page on effects of nuclear weapons, as an example of continuous Urdu text with floating images.
• Note: Currently Unicode Urdu will be displayed properly only in Internet Explorer 5+, Netscape 6.2 and Mozilla. Some browsers, like Opera 6 and Netscape 4.xx, display the characters properly, but don't display them right to left. But do not worry - Unicode is the future of font coding - soon all browsers will support it.

For the technical minded

• Urdu Nastaliq Unicode font uses the Unicode Arabic Range 0600-06FF, Unicode Arabic Presentation Forms-A FB50-FDFF and Unicode Arabic Presentation Forms-B FE70-FEFF.
• Code chart for the Urdu Nastaliq Unicode font. (You need to have the font installed, to view the Urdu characters)
• PDF file for the code chart (you don't need to install the font to view this, but you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

How to write using this font

Well, that is the difficult part. Just having an Urdu font doesn't allow you to create Urdu web pages in an easy manner. You should look for a software which allows you to write in Unicode Urdu.
Personally I use U-TRANS for creating Unicode Urdu web pages.

Enjoy!