Q. How can I type in tamil while submitting articles, forums or wiki's in the achi.org website?

A. The text editor provided in the achi.org website is common across all sections of the website including Nanal Article Submission, Forums and Wiki. This text editor contains the "Tamil Typing" as the first icon just above the text area as shown below with the tamil character: ஆ

   Clicking on the icon, will open a new window where you can start typing in english which will be converted automatically to its tamil equivalent character as you type. Once you are done typing what you wanted to type in tamil, use "Ctrl + A" and "Ctrl + C" to copy all contents before closing the window. Now in the Text Editor window, you can paste this copied Tamil Text content anywhere (even in-between English text). The tamil typing window is shown below:

Q. Do I have to download anything to enable Tamil Typing or what is required for the Tamil Typing to work? (or) Why am I seeing Square Boxes when I type in Tamil?

A. The achi.org website uses Unicode characters to display and type Tamil characters. In windows based operating systems after Windows XP (including Vista and Windows 7) it ships with the Tamil Unicode font called: Latha. If you have that font installed or any other Unicode tamil font installed on your PC, you should see Tamil characters right away. You don't have to install anything in that scenario. If you are using older Operating Systems or Linux/Mac operating systems, check your browser compatability for displaying Unicode Characters. You can also search the web and download the "Latha" - Tamil Unicode font and install if you see Square Characters and sometimes even if you have the "Latha" Unicode font, you might still see Square boxes when you start typing in the "Tamil Keyin Page", this can happen when you don't have the latest service packs for Windows. Update to the latest service packs or re-installing your Latha font could fix this.

Q. What Operating Systems and Browsers are supported for typing in Tamil?

A. Any Unicode (UTF-8 or UTF-16) supported Operating System should display and let you type in Tamil Characters without any issues. Among the browsers, any version above 6 for Internet Explorer and any version above 3 for Firefox will display tamil characters fine. Chrome, Opera and Safari browsers also support Unicode and you should have no problem in seeing Tamil characters in those browsers as well if your Operating System is compatible.

Q. Is there any help for typing in Tamil? Or Where can I find out the English-Tamil key character mappings?

A. Achi.org website uses the Anjal standard for "Thanglish" typing and the "Tamil Keyin Page" displays a context sensitive help on the key combinations pressed (See picture above). For an elaborate key mappings a link is also provided as Tamil Typing Help.

Q. Why do I have to type in Tamil in a separate window? Why can't I type directly in the same Text Area where I am typing my article/content in English?

A. Tamil Typing is not directly implemented on the Rich Text Editor that's being used in the achi.org website. It will be integrated onto the main Text Editor itself very soon. Please keep checking achi.org for updates.

Q. Is mixed language typing enabled in the Tamil Keyin Page?

A. Yes. When you click the "ஆ" icon in the Text Editor and open up the "Tamil Keyin Page", by default typing in Tamil is enabled and you can start typing in Tamil. If you want to type in English inbetween the Tamil words, just press the "F9" key to toggle between typing in English and Tamil. Then finally you could use "Ctrl + A" and "Ctrl + C" to select all and copy for pasting in the Parent Text Editor window. See below for an article submitted with both Tamil and English content.

 Q. There are more than one "L" phonetics in Tamil, what characters in English do I have to use to type these phonetics? Or Can you give us some example of some words and how they can be typed in English to get it's Tamil equivalent?

A. L (capital) - ள்                      l (small) - ல்                    z (or) zh - ழ்

    R (capital) - ற்                      r (small) - ர்

    s/c - ச்                                  sh/ch - ஷ்                       k/g - க்                             

    t/d - ட்                                  p/b - ப்                            f - ஃப்

    ng - ங்                                  nj - ஞ்                             x - க்ஷ்

    To type Chettiar in tamil, you'd type "cettiyaar" or "settiyaar" in thanglish to get "செட்டியார்".

    Anjal Keyboard uses some short cuts in tamil grammer for easy typing. For example:

    "kondu vaa" will translate to: கொன்டு வா in all tamil translators and mapping engines, but achi.org's Anjal mapping will convert anything with "nd" into "ண்" as that's the grammatically correct "N" to use. So it would translate correctly to: கொண்டு வா and you don't have to type "koNdu vaa" as in other mappings.

     Also, typing "kaRRathu" only will translate to "கற்றது" in other engines. But in achi.org you can just type "katrathu" and you'll get the same result as "tra" is mappe to "ற்ற".

     For kuril and nedil, use "e", "i", "o", "u" or "ee", "ii", "oo", "uu" to the mei-ezuthukkal (க, ச, ட, த, ப, ர, ய, ங, ந, ன, ம, ண...). For example typing "ka" will translate to "க", and adding a "o" to "க" as "ko" will translate to kuril - "கொ", adding "oo" to "க" as "koo" will translate to nedil - "கோ". Similarly, typing "va" will translate to "வ", adding an "u" to "வ" will translate to kuril - "வு", adding "uu" to "வ" as "vuu" will translate to nedil - "வூ".

There are many more shortcuts that you can find elaborate description at the Tamil Typing Help link.