Abstract
This document points to resources for the layout and presentation of text in languages that use the Devanagari script. The target audience includes developers of Web standards and technologies, such as HTML, CSS, Mobile Web, Digital Publications, and Unicode, as well as implementers of web browsers, ebook readers, and other applications that need to render Devanagari text.
Status of This Document
This section describes the status of this
document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C
publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found
in the W3C technical reports index at
https://www.w3.org/TR/.
This document points to resources for Devanagari script layout and text support on the Web and in eBooks. These requirements provide information for Web technologies such as CSS, HTML and digital publications about how to support languages written using the Devanagari script. The information here is developed in conjunction with a document that summarises gaps where the Web fails to adequately support the Devanagari script.
The editor's draft of this document is being developed in the GitHub repository Indian Language Enablement (ilreq), with contributors from the W3C Internationalization Interest Group. It is published by the Internationalization Working Group. The end target for this document is a Working Group Note.
To make it easier to track comments, please raise separate issues or emails for each comment, and point to the section you are commenting on using a URL.
This document was published by the Internationalization Working Group as
a Group Draft Note using the
Note track.
Group Draft Notes are not endorsed by
W3C nor its Members.
This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other
documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other
than work in progress.
The
W3C Patent
Policy
does not carry any licensing requirements or commitments on this
document.
This document is governed by the
03 November 2023 W3C Process Document.
Some links on this page point to repositories or pages to which information will be added over time. Initially, the link may produce no results, but as issues, tests, etc. are created they will show up.
Links that have a gray color led to no content the last time this document was updated. They are still live, however, since relevant content could be added at any time. When the document is updated, links that now point to results will have their live colour restored.
This document was created by Richard Ishida.
Thanks to the following people who contributed information that is used in this document (contributors' names listed in in alphabetic order): Akshat Joshi, Alolita Sharma, Vivek Pani.
See also the GitHub contributors list for the Indian Language Enablement project, and the discussions related to the Devanagari script.
This document points to resources for Devanagari script layout and text support on the Web and in eBooks. These resources provide information for developers of Web technologies such as CSS, HTML and digital publications, and for application developers, about how to support languages written using the Devanagari script. They include requirements, tests, GitHub discussions, type samples, and more,
The document focuses on typographic layout issues. For a deeper understanding of the Devanagari script and how it works see Hindi Orthography Notes, which includes topics such as:
Phonology,
Vowels,
Consonants,
Encoding choices, and
Numbers.
The document Language enablement index points to this document and others, and provides a central location for developers and implementers to find information related to various scripts.
The W3C also has a repository with discussion threads related to the Devanagari script, including requests from developers to the user community for information about how scripts/languages work, and a notification system that tracks issues in W3C working groups related to the Devanagari script. See a list of unresolved questions for Devanagari experts. Each section below points to related discussions. See also the repository home page.
The Devanagari script is an abugida. Consonant letters have an inherent vowel sound. Combining vowel signs are attached to the consonant to indicate that a different vowel follows the consonant.
Devanagari text runs left-to-right in horizontal lines. Words are separated by spaces. There is no case distinction.
Orthographic syllables (as opposed to phonetic syllables) play a significant role in Devanagari. An orthographic syllable starts at the beginning of any cluster of consonants and incorporates the whole cluster plus any following vowels and diacritics. A phonetic syllable may begin and end within a consonant conjunct.
Languages written with the Devanagari script often have aspirated forms of stops and a set of retroflex consonants. These are all represented separately in the orthography.
Consonant letters may be supplemented by repertoire extensions for non-native sounds by applying the nukta diacritic to characters.
Consonant clusters at any location are normally indicated using the virama between consonants. This results in a large number of conjunct forms expressed using half-forms, stacked consonants, and ligated glyphs. Occasionally, a visible virama is used. As part of a cluster, RA typically has special forms.
Word-final consonant sounds may be represented by dedicated combining marks (anusvara & visarga), but are generally ordinary consonants that are not marked by a virama. An elided inherent vowel is not always marked. In Hindi, the inherent vowel of a penultimate consonant in a word of 3 syllables that ends in a non-inherent vowel is usually elided, and not marked as such.
Standalone vowel sounds are typically written using independent vowels, one for each vowel sound, including the inherent vowel.
Vowel nasalisation is typically indicated using a diacritic.
There is a set of native number digits. Punctuation is mostly ASCII, but dandas may be used for phrase boundaries.
The Unicode Devanagari block contains more characters than other indic scripts, partly because it serves as a pivot script for transliterations of other scripts.
Text is normally written horizontally, left to right.
- Requirements
-
- GitHub discussions
-
- Type samples
-
- Tests
-
- Gap analysis
-
- LE Index
-