Inserting Diacritical Marks to Characters.

[ulaping]

I'm completely new to Font Creator so as a result I'm completely stumped on how to insert diacritical marks on a character. I've tried looking for tutorials, but to no luck. Can anyone please tell me how you go about inserting a diacritical mark on a character and program it so when you type a key on a keyboard the character will show up, and then when you type another key the diacritical mark will show up on top of the same character.

The Devanagari Keyboard below is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. I press a key on the keyboard for the character, then I press another key which will insert the diacritical mark on top of the character. I want to be able to do that. But I have no idea how to create this kind of format on Font Creator or on the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. Please if anyone knows how to do this, I'd really appreciate it.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Please see This earlier thread on using Keyboard Layout Creator.

Devanagari may be using a different method — combining diacritical marks instead of composite glyphs with accents like à è ì ò ù. Composite glyphs are one character, but they may require two keystrokes to type them — first the accent, using a dead key, then the vowel or consonant, e.g. ~ then n to type ñ or ~ then a to type ã

Combining diacritical marks have zero advanced width and a negative side-bearing to position the accent over the character. The character is typed first, then the accent. The following examples use combining dot below:

ḷ ṇ ṃ
These examples use composite glyphs:
ḷ ṇ ṃ

[ulaping]

So how do I do the combining diacritical marks where you type the character first, then the accent? Show me the step-by-step process, please.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Open Times New Roman and take a look at combining dot below: codepoint $0323 (hex) or 803 (decimal).

1. How many combining diacritical marks will you need?
2. How are you going to type them on your keyboard?
3. Which characters will they need to combine with?

[ulaping]

You're going to have to be really specific with the details because as I said earlier I'm new to this program so when you say "Open Times New Roman", I have no idea what you're talking about. I wish I can find a very simple tutorial on how to create combining diacritical marks like the one in the Devanagari script, especially one with very easy to follow language, but unfortunately (with all due respect) I'm stuck having to ask a simple question on a forum and all I get is an answer with instructions that I'm unable to understand.

My simple question is: How do I create combining diacritical marks like the ones in the Devanagari script. I want to create a writing script like Devanagari where you type in the character first by pressing a key, then when you type another key, a diacritical mark is placed on the character.

I want to know how you program this into my keyboard using Font Creator and Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. Please give me easy-to-follow instructions and if necessary provide some images along with the easy-to-follow instructions. I don't know where else to turn to for help. You're my last hope. I'd really appreciate it if you can help me because I tried pretty much everything with the current knowledge I have at my disposal regarding this program.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

If you're completely new to FontCreator, start by browsing through the help file.

Opening Fonts

I always find it helps to go through the menus and dialogues to see what I can learn before even opening help.

I don't have time to write again what was written in the thread that I linked to before.

There are several issues that must be decided before starting the design process. You didn't answer my previous questions, so I cannot advise on the best route.

[ulaping]

For my script, I'll need 21 characters with several diacritical marks. Each diacritical mark can be combined with any of the 21 characters. I want to be able to type the characters in the same way as the Devanagari script by typing the character first then typing another key which will insert the diacritical mark on the character. Does that answer your 3 questions? I opened the Times New Roman, but I don't know what to do next.