[OS X TeX] Malayalam with xelatex

[NMPOST7]

On 13/11/2013 02:12, Herbert Schulz wrote:
> I don't have your font(s) but there is a Malayalam font supplied in OS X. Here is something that seems to work:
> 
> %%!TEX TS-program = xelatex
> %%!TEX encoding = UTF-8 Unicode
> \documentclass{article}
> \usepackage{fontspec}
> \usepackage{polyglossia}
> \setdefaultlanguage{malayalam}
> \newfontfamily\malayalamfont[Script=Malayalam,Ligatures=TeX,HyphenChar="00]{Malayalam Sangam MN}
> \begin{document}
> മലയാളഭാഷ. ൽ ൾ ർ  ക്ക ങ്ക കൃ   1,2,3    
> \end{document}

Thanks Herb. The rendering is fine with the letters and digits. But the
ligatures (the fourth character) gets split into two (the new script), which
looks hideous and also difficult to read.
Another problem in the file I sent you was the full stop. The point get rendered
as a box. However I found a work around. It is not an elegant solution but
works. The reason why I use the font Rachana is that it is aesthetic. and uses
the old script, which is easier to read.

(available on:  http://www.prokerala.com/downloads/fonts.php )

The only modification is in the preamble (line 5).
In the main code the markup \textenglish{1,2,3.} renderes the numbers, the
commas and the full stop correctly. I think I need to stick to that option until
a better solution appears. Probably write a mini macro for that.


\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{polyglossia,xltxtra}
\setdefaultlanguage{malayalam}
\setotherlanguage{english}
\newfontfamily\malayalamfont[Script=Malayalam,Ligatures=TeX,HyphenChar="00]{Rachana}
\begin{document}
മലയാളഭാഷ. ൽ ൾ ർ  ക്ക     1,2,3     \textenglish{1,2,3.}
\end{document}


BR
suren

(PS: I am not sure if I need to use xlxtra package (as far as I know the
fontspec package calls this.I shall try omitting it)
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