kiym
Level 1 (4 points)

Q: Change Default non-Roman Font

Is there a way to change the default font used for non-Roman languages?

 

In my case, it's to replace the Armenian font "Mshtakan" for another one (maybe Arial Unicode). I don't understand why that font was selected, it's like using an italic Cambria at 8pt as a default font to display text next to Lucida Grande at 10pt. Armenian is quite similar to Roman and Greek alphabets.

Compare these letters and their twin in Roman:

Õ½ -> u

Õ¸ -> n

Õ° -> h

Ö… -> o

 

In fact, if you use Arial Unicode, they are 100% identical, even though some of these letters represent different sounds.

 

So my question is basically this: how can I use Arial Unicode as my default Armenian font system-wide (OS X, Safari, etc)? I know it's possible to change the default overall system font using third-party software like Tinker Tools, so I won't accept "it's impossible" as an answer. I have basic Terminal knowledge so I can use that to do it if someone knows how. I'm sure I'm not the only one bugged by some of the fonts used for other languages as well.

 

Thank you.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), Early 2009 iMac; upgraded 8GB RAM.

Posted on Jun 23, 2013 10:30 AM

by Tom Gewecke,Solvedanswer
Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke
Level 9 (79,075 points)
A:

Have a look at this link, toward the end there is an idea

 

http://www.typophile.com/node/44585

 

Also if you remove or deactivate both Mshtakan and Arial Unicode, the OS and apps in theory would have to use whatever Armenian font you added yourself.  But the OS might just throw up the Last Resort symbol.  Still worth a try....

Posted on Jun 23, 2013 11:54 AM

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kiym

Q: Change Default non-Roman Font

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  • by Tom Gewecke,Helpful

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Jun 23, 2013 11:08 AM in response to kiym
    Level 9 (79,075 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 11:08 AM in response to kiym

    Personally I would recommend you use any font other than the ancient Arial Unicode, where the goal was to achieve maximum language coverage for default fallback in computers available back in 2000.

     

    One source of alternative Armenian fonts is

     

    http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Armenian.html

     

     

    Since OS X has no Armenian localization, I don't think there is any point in trying to change the font used for system menus and dialogues.

     

    For a browser, one easy fix would be use use FireFox, which (unlike Safari) offers preference settings for user preferred fonts.

     

    I don't think I've ever seen a way to do what you want mentioned in these forums so far, but perhaps someone will have an idea.

  • by kiym,

    kiym kiym Jun 23, 2013 11:23 AM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 11:23 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

    I agree that Armenian has no localization, but I do use it for some system-specific tasks (ie filenames) since I am working on projects in that language. With Mshtakan, the text is always far too small and looks completely out of place. It's hard on the eyes... all in all, it's a terrible font that looks ugly and is not practical at all. Plus, when I'm writing using both Roman and Armenian scripts, it is quite annoying when the system switches to it.

     

    Regarding the browser, I'd rather not change platforms since I prefer to keep things generic and love Safari's function and design integrity with the rest of OS X and my other Apple devices.

     

    I do have a good collection of unicode fonts that I can use as an alternative to Arial Unicode (Deja Vu is a good choice as well), but thanks for the site, I was looking for more .

     

    I know Tinker Tool does have the functionality to replace system fonts, so I'm quite sure there is a way. I also know Safari used to allow the default font to be changed natively.

  • by Tom Gewecke,Solvedanswer

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Jun 23, 2013 11:54 AM in response to kiym
    Level 9 (79,075 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 11:54 AM in response to kiym

    Have a look at this link, toward the end there is an idea

     

    http://www.typophile.com/node/44585

     

    Also if you remove or deactivate both Mshtakan and Arial Unicode, the OS and apps in theory would have to use whatever Armenian font you added yourself.  But the OS might just throw up the Last Resort symbol.  Still worth a try....

  • by kiym,

    kiym kiym Jun 23, 2013 4:45 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 4:45 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    I used that page on typophile like you suggested and, just as you mentioned, at the end of the discussion, the solution was quite simple and exactly what I was trying to find.

     

    Basically, there is a file that tells Mac OS X what font to fallback on in case a font is not specified. We're going to modify that.

     

    1. In Finder, click on Go > Go to Folder... (or shift+command+G);

    2. Then click on the aliased folder Resources;

    3. Create a backup of the file we will modify – copy and paste the file DefaultFontFallbacks.plist in the same folder and rename the file to add .bak at the end of its filename (accept whatever Mac OS X promts);

    4. Copy and paste the file DefaultFontFallbacks.plist to your desktop (Mac OS X will not let you modify the file while it's in the Ressources folder, but it will let you modify it if it's on your desktop);

    5. Open it in Xcode -- get from the Mac App Store (you can do it in TextEdit, but it's going to be difficult to find your way around);

    6. Change the name of the font you want to replace under serif, sans serif, mono, etc. Make sure you don't include spaces in the font's name (if the font you want to use is Deja Vu Sans, type DejaVuSans);

    7. Save and copy over the original file back in the Resources folder and accept whatever OS X prompts you for;

    8. Restart the computer;

     

    There may be a simpler way to bypass Mac OS X's "immune system" when trying to modify the file but it worked for me, so whatever.

     

    In my case, wherever I saw "Mshtakan," I changed it to the appropriate DejaVu (Serif, or Sans Mono). I used Deja Vu since it's used on iPhone and has Serif, Sans and Sans Mono. It looks great, and I did not have to disable Mshtakan to have it work.

     

    Thanks a lot!

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Jun 23, 2013 6:05 PM in response to kiym
    Level 9 (79,075 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 6:05 PM in response to kiym

    kiym wrote:

     

    I used Deja Vu since it's used on iPhone

     

    I don't see this on the iOS 6 font list

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5484

     

    Glad to hear that .plist mod worked!

  • by kiym,

    kiym kiym Jun 23, 2013 7:26 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 23, 2013 7:26 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    Tom Gewecke wrote:

     

    kiym wrote:

     

    I used Deja Vu since it's used on iPhone

     

    I don't see this on the iOS 6 font list

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5484

     

    I found that info here (the second to last post):

    http://typophile.com/node/82695

     

    On another note, I found an issue in the .plist mod though; Deja Vu seems to use the type "Book" for its equivalent to "Regular," so instead, Mac OS X seems to choose the type "oblique" (italics equivalent) in Deja Vu instead. Most of my Armenian text appears in Italics due to this. I looked at other fonts in the DefaultFontFallback.plist; some add the type name following a dash (ie STHeitiTC-Light -- to find this, go the the plist, then uncollapse sans-serfi, then item 5, then item 1, and the item 1). I'm not sure if this is really telling it to use the "light" type of the STHeitiTC font, but that's the only conclusion I could come to.

     

    I tried putting in DejaVuSans-Book, but then it ignores DejaVu entirely and shows me Armenian scripts in Arial Unicode. I don't mind using Arial Unicode, but I can see how this can be an issue in some cases.

     

    I'd rather use Deja Vu, so I'll try to figure this out and I'll post here if I find a solution.

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Jun 24, 2013 3:00 AM in response to kiym
    Level 9 (79,075 points)
    Jun 24, 2013 3:00 AM in response to kiym

    kiym wrote:

     

    Tom Gewecke wrote:

     

    kiym wrote:

     

    I used Deja Vu since it's used on iPhone

     

    I don't see this on the iOS 6 font list

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5484

     

    I found that info here (the second to last post):

    http://typophile.com/node/82695

     

     

    Thanks, that explains it!

  • by eloerien,

    eloerien eloerien Jul 22, 2013 12:50 PM in response to kiym
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 22, 2013 12:50 PM in response to kiym

    Yours is the only post I've found anywhere on the interwebs that even gets close to problem I'm trying to solve. I do a good bit of work in Greek (Polytonic), and every time I switch from English to Greek I also have to switch fonts.

     

    The default for Greek in MS Word is Times New Roman, and I don't know how to tell if that's the default font system wide. I looked for the DefaultFontFallbacks.plist file and it's not anywhere on my computer (I'm running OSX 10.6.8, so that might have something to do with it). So I don't seem to have the proper file to edit, and if I did have it, I can't simply substitute SBL Greek for the current default because I don't know what that is.

     

    All I want to happen is this: Anytime I select "Greek Polytonic" from the International input source menu, I'd like it automatically to show up in SBL Greek. Do you have any advice?

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Jul 22, 2013 1:54 PM in response to eloerien
    Level 9 (79,075 points)
    Jul 22, 2013 1:54 PM in response to eloerien

    MS Word may well not choose its default fonts from Apple .plists -- it does many things totally independently. You should probably also seach/ask in the forum devoted to that app:

     

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macword

     

    I think Apple's default font for Greek is Lucida Grande.

     

    If you can use a different app, Nisus Writer has preference settings which make it very simple to connect keyboards and fonts and even select the combo via keyboard shortcut.

  • by kiym,

    kiym kiym Sep 17, 2013 7:08 PM in response to kiym
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 17, 2013 7:08 PM in response to kiym

    I'm sorry, I seem to have missed a step in my guide: See this as step 1.5 (between 1 and 2)

     

    To find the DefaultFontFallbacks.plist file, while in Finder, click on Go > Go to Folder...

     

    and type in:

    /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/

     

    Then go to the folder:

    CoreText.Framework (alias)

     

    And then:

    Resources (alias)

     

    And you'll find it there.