Fonts & Transliterations
The table below contains the complete set of fonts and transliteration schemes that can be displayed or used for entering data into the SEDRA site. We also provide the fonts and instructions for using the fonts in other web pages below.
Textual Input
Textual input for lookups can be entered in either a transliteration scheme or in Syriac. If you enter text using a transliteration scheme, the SEDRA site, by default, expects that text to be in the Sedra4 transliteration scheme. If you are logged into the SEDRA system and have setup your preferences to use a specific transliteration scheme then that transliteration scheme will be expected for all input. If you enter Syriac while inputing text then the keyboard you use must produce characters from the Syriac Unicode code page.
Textual Output
Textual output from the SEDRA site, be default, uses the Serto Jerusalem font. If you are logged into the SEDRA site and have setup your preferences to use a specific Syriac font then all Syriac text output will be in that font.
Using the fonts in your own pages
The fonts used in the Sedra application are based on the fonts provided by Beth Mardutho. In order to use these fonts in a web page you need
- The font files
- The CSS that define the fonts
- HTML and CSS that is specific to your use case.
The first two resources you can download using the links provided. The third you will write yourself but will be similar to the following examples:
<p style="direction: rtl; font-size: 2em; font-family: SertoJerusalem;">ܒܟܬܒܗ</p>
<p style="direction: rtl; font-size: 2em; font-family: EstrangeloEdessa;">ܒܟܬܒܗ</p>
In the simplest case you provide the font-family for the text in CSS. This can be in-line styles or classes defined in a CSS file. More properly you should also define the text direction. In pages that are majority Syriac text the font-family and direction can be specified for the body rather than a specific HTML element. As we do in Sedra, you can change the font-family for an HTML element with JavaScript and make the page dynamic by allowing your users to select their font.
The following font families are defined in the files we have provided: EastSyriacAdiabene, EastSyriacCtesiphon, EstrangeloEdessa, EstrangeloAntioch, SertoBatnan, SertoJerusalem, SertoKharput, SertoMalankara, SertoMardin, EstrangeloMidyat, EstrangeloNisibin, EstrangeloQuenneshrin, EstrangeloTalada, EstrangeloTurAbdin, SertoUrhoy.