Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Installing fonts for Z Notation symbols

Created: 7th February 2013M / 26 Rabiulawal 1434H, Th. [Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin]
Published: 20th February 2013M / 9 Rabiulakhir 1434H, We.
Updated: -


Assalamualaikum warahmatullah. My husband wanted to use the Z Notation domain antirestriction symbol, see Pic 1, in his assignment.

Pic 1 - Domain antirestriction symbol of the Z Notation using the Code2000 font as displayed here:
Unicode Character 'Z NOTATION DOMAIN ANTIRESTRICTION' (U+2A64)
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2a64/index.htm


I was unable to do a thorough search in the list of fonts in LibreOffice Writer because the Special Character dialog hang for unknown reasons. Up to that point there was no similar symbol to be found. I shutdown his laptop then moved-on to my laptop to do an online search.

Scrolling through the list of symbols here:
Unicode Characters in the 'Symbol, Math' Category
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/category/Sm/list.htm
... I finally found the symbol. See Pic 2.

Pic 2 - List of math symbols, before installing the necessary font. In the rightmost column are images of the symbol. In the column next to the images are the symbols as displayed by the browser.



Part A: Test your browser

To check whether or not your brower supports the symbol in Pic 1, simply click this link:
Browser Test Page for Unicode Character 'Z NOTATION DOMAIN ANTIRESTRICTION' (U+2A64)
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2a64/browsertest.htm

The unsupported symbol will look pixeled like in Pic 3 while the supported symbol will look smooth like in Pic 4; that is unless the symbol is originally created to have a pixeled-look like the GNU Unifont in Pic 6.

Pic 3 means:
"You don't have the font in your system so the symbol is not displayed correctly in the browser."

Pic 4 means:
"You have the font in your system so the symbol is displayed correctly in the browser."

Proceed if you need to install the font.

Pic 3 - Unsupported. Pixeled. From the FileFormat.Info website.


Pic 4 - Supported. Smooth. From the FileFormat.Info website.



Part B: Local fonts check

To check the fonts in your system that supports the symbol in Pic 1, see Pic 5, simply click this link:
Local Font List
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/font/fontlist.htm?text=⩤+-+Unicode+Character+'Z+NOTATION+DOMAIN+ANTIRESTRICTION'+(U%2B2A64)

Pic 5 - Checking local fonts, after installing a font that supports the symbol in Pic 1.


Prior to this post, no fonts in my system can display the symbol correctly. So a font that supports this symbol needs to be installed.



Part C: List of fonts that supports the Z Notation characters

Click the View All text-link to preview the symbols in the list of fonts installed on the FileFormat.Info server that supports the Z Notation symbols, see Pic 6, here:
Z NOTATION DOMAIN ANTIRESTRICTION (U+2A64) Font Support
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2a64/fontsupport.htm

Pic 6 - Among the fonts that support the Z Notation symbols. From the FileFormat.Info website.


Among the fonts that supports the Z Notation characters are:
  • Code2000
  • EversonMono
  • EversonMono-Oblique
  • GNU Unifont
  • LastResort
  • Quivira
  • STIXGeneral-Regular
  • Symbola
  • Unicode BMP Fallback SIL

Note that only the bolded fonts are available in Ubuntu Software Center.



Part D: Installing a font that supports the Z Notation characters

In Part C, I chose to use the STIXGeneral-Regular font.


1. Run Ubuntu Software Center.


2. In the search field, type-in the search term, see Pic 7:
stix
The search results will auto-filter.

Pic 7 - Refer to Step 2. Searching for the package.


3. Click the...
Scientic and Technical Information eXchange fonts
fonts-stix
... package. See Pic 7.

Then choose either:


A. Click the Install button (see Pic 7) to install right-away.


or


B. Click the More Info button (see Pic 7) to read more about the package and click the Install button later. See Pic 8.

Pic 8 - Refer to Step 3.B. More information about the STIX (Scientic and Technical Information eXchange) font package.


4. The Authenticate dialog will pop-up. See Pic 9.

Enter the password in the Password: field then click the Authenticate button.

Allow the installation process to take place.

Pic 9 - Refer to Step 4. Authenticating the installation.


5. After the installation process is completed, either:
- test your browser, refer to Part A; or
- try the local font check, refer to Part B, (the STIXGeneral font is used in Pic 5); or
- try-out the newly-installed font in LibreOffice Writer.



Alhamdulillah. Wassalam.

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