Older operating systems support Unicode to lesser degrees. There are several methods for entering Unicode in a document, some more complex than others. Microsoft Word does support Unicode under both platforms, but the degree of compatibility varies from one version to the next. Users of Windows XP or Mac OSX can use Unicode without a great deal of trouble, though not all software supports it equally (or at all). (Click here for an indication of the scripts currently included, and here for those not yet included.) Also, not all Unicode fonts have all possible characters (as this would make them too huge for convenient use). Unicode eliminates this issue, but it only works with fonts that are Unicode compliant.

Most people have experienced this at some point. When a user lacks the font a document was created with, some (or all) characters may be replaced by different ones or become invisible. In other font systems, each font has its own codes and the same code in two different fonts can signify two different symbols. Thus, no matter what font is being used, it will always know exactly what symbol is called for. Put simply, Unicode is a system that assigns a unique code to every symbol in every writing system (currently totalling something like 70,000 characters). What is Unicode? The explanation at is a good place to begin. In what follows, we will attempt to provide instructions for enabling and using Unicode. This is now possible in all current operating systems and most current word-processing software. Information below refers to Windows XP.Īuthors writing for The Chicago Online Encyclopedia of Mamluk Studies are STRONGLY encouraged to compose their articles using Unicode-compliant software, and to submit them as such. WE HAVE NO EXPERIENCE USING WINDOWS VISTA, AND NO INFORMATION ABOUT HOW WELL IT INTEGRATES UNICODE OR RIGHT-TO-LEFT SCRIPTS SUCH AS ARABIC. While we have tested most of what follows, and we have no reason to think that any of it will cause problems, we assume no responsibility for any negative effects that might be caused to any software or hardware. Mamluk Encyclopedia: Unicode and diacriticsĮnabling Unicode and entering special characters and diacritics (Mac or PC)

Mac special characters map