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color:#FFFFFF; padding:10 0 0 0; margin:0 0 0 0">Computers & Writing Systems</p> </div> <div style="padding:0 0 0 0; background-color:#000000; color:#FFFFFF"> <table width='100%'> <tr> <td style="padding: 0 0 0 25px"><a class="GlobalNavLink" href="http://www.sil.org/">SIL HOME</a> | <a class="GlobalNavLink" href="https://software.sil.org/products/">SIL SOFTWARE</a> | <a class="GlobalNavLink" href="/support.html">SUPPORT</a> | <a class="GlobalNavLink" href="https://www.givedirect.org/donate/?cid=13536">DONATE</a> | <a class="GlobalNavLink" href="/privacy-policy.html">PRIVACY POLICY</a> </td> <td align='right' width='20%'> <script async src="https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=0760bf09a6bff4b0c"></script><style>.gsc-control-cse {padding: 0.6em; min-width: 10em; width: 18em; max-width: 20em} form.gsc-search-box {display: unset;}</style><div class="gcse-search"></div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="padding:0 25 25 25"> <p class='CategoryPath'>You are here: <a class='CategoryPath' href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dencoding%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Encoding</a> > <a class='CategoryPath' href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dconversion%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Conversion</a><br> Short URL: <a href='/utconvertq1.html'>https://scripts.sil.org/UTConvertQ1</a></p>   <p><span class='item_series'>When to Convert to Unicode</span></p><h1>What is Unicode? and Why do I need to use Unicode? </h1> <p> <span class='author_date_hits'>Albert Bickford, Jim Brase and Lorna Priest, 2007-05-11</span></p><div class='Sidebar'><p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvert2unicode%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>When to Convert to Unicode</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq1%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>What is Unicode? and Why do I need to use Unicode?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq2%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Is Unicode ready for you?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq3%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Are there fonts available that will work for you?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq4%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Can you type all the characters you need?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq5%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Does available Unicode software meet your needs?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq6%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Is anyone requiring you to use Unicode?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq7%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Is software going to force Unicode on you?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq8%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Is it time to archive your data?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq9%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Is the technical expertise to do the conversion available to you?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq10%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Are you ready to learn about how to use Unicode?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq11%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Do your colleagues use Unicode?</a></p> <p><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvertq12%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Are you willing and able to “straddle the fence”?</a></p> </div><p></p> <p>Unicode is a character encoding standard that has widespread acceptance. Microsoft software uses Unicode at its core. Whether you realize it or not, you are using Unicode already! Basically, “computers just deal with numbers. They store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. Before Unicode was invented, there were hundreds of different encoding systems for assigning these numbers. No single encoding could contain enough characters.<span class='footnote_ref'><a href='#footnote_1' name='_ftnref_1'>1</a></span>” This has been the problem we, in SIL, have often run into. If you are using a legacy encoding your font conflicts with the font someone in another area of the world uses. You might have an <span usv='0289' class='USV_sprite_wrapper' style='display: inline-block; overflow: hidden; position: relative; zoom: 1; *display: inline; width: 12px; height: 10px;'><img src='/cms/sites/nrsi/media/usv/0280-02FF.0.12pt.png' border='0' style='position: absolute; left: -13px; top: -22px;'></span> in your font while someplace else someone used a <span usv='025B' class='USV_sprite_wrapper' style='display: inline-block; overflow: hidden; position: relative; zoom: 1; *display: inline; width: 11px; height: 10px;'><img src='/cms/sites/nrsi/media/usv/0200-027F.0.12pt.png' border='0' style='position: absolute; left: -44px; top: -219px;'></span> at the same codepoint. Your files are incompatible. Unicode provides a unique number for every character and so you do not have this problem if you use Unicode. If your document calls for <span class='USV'>U+0289</span> <span usv='0289' class='USV_sprite_wrapper' style='display: inline-block; overflow: hidden; position: relative; zoom: 1; *display: inline; width: 12px; height: 10px;'><img src='/cms/sites/nrsi/media/usv/0280-02FF.0.12pt.png' border='0' style='position: absolute; left: -13px; top: -22px;'></span> it will be clear to any computer program what the character should be.</p> <a name='3c7f83a4'></a> <h3>Advanced Resources</h3> <ul class='dListUnordered'> <li><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dwsi_guidelines_sec_6_2%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>An Introduction to Unicode</a></li> <li><a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Diws-chapter04a%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>Understanding Unicode</a></li> </ul> <p>Back to <a href='/cms/scripts/page.php%3Fid%3Dutconvert2unicode%26site_id%3Dnrsi.html'>When to Convert to Unicode</a>.</p> <hr align='left' class='footnote_rule'><table> <tr> <td class='footnote_number' align='top'><a href='#_ftnref_1' name='footnote_1'>1</a></td> <td class=footnote_text><a href='http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html' target='_blank'><img src='/cms/assets/icons/offsite_link.png'> http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html</a></td> </tr> </table> <hr> <p><small>© 2003-2024 <a href='http://www.sil.org/' target='_blank'>SIL International</a>, all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted elsewhere on this page.<br> Provided by SIL's Writing Systems Technology team (formerly known as NRSI). Read our <a href="/privacy-policy.html">Privacy Policy</a>. <a href='/support.html'>Contact us here.</a></small></p> </div> </td> </table> </body> </html>