As a Wikisource user, I want the font rendering issue to be investigated, so that the root cause(s) can be identified and a plan of action can then be developed in response to the findings.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Investigate font rendering issues on Wikisource, in which text is displayed as boxes rather than the proper text
- Be sure to look into Indic languages, in particular, as well as a range of other language types (such as Roman letters, RTL, etc)
- Determine key reasons why this issue is occurring in ebook exports
- Share recommended or potential technical solutions/next steps, if we wish to fix this issue
Notes:
- Note that, sometimes, the issue seems to occur when the user does not select the font in WSExport. This could potentially be fixed by automatically populating the font field with the selection that is relevant to the language code. However, be mindful of the fact that some books are multi-lingual.
- We don't have supported fonts for all languages in Wikisource (for example, for Kannada --> we have no way to get text in Kannada). We do, however, support other Indic languages, including those with Devanagari script.
- Note that, sometimes, when the user does select the font in WSExport, there are conjunct consonant issues (are these related/can they be tackled together?).
Visual Examples:
In the images below, you will see that the files are not properly exported from Tamil Wikisource (image #1) or Kannada Wikisource (image #2). Rather, the text displays as rectangles. This is due to the fact that Kannada is not included in the “Include fonts” section, which creates various issues, such as the one below. Meanwhile, Tamil is included in “Include Fonts,” but there are still issues.
Image #1:
Image #2:
