[XeTeX] Lao typesetting in XeTeX

[Gareth Hughes]

Brian Wilson wrote:
> "Hello World"

Hello Brian!

> I'm a XeTeX Newbie who can read Thai, Lao and Khmer, with Lao being my first
> language of focus for XeTeX typesetting. I have two questions.
> 
> 1.  Where do I start? I have found several manuals for LaTeX, but when I
> compile a new document, the Lao fonts do not show.

Perhaps a brief example would help:

%%%%%
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Script=Lao]{NameOfLaoFont}
\begin{document}
ອັກສອນລາວ
\end{document}
%%%%%

Replace 'NameOFLaoFont' with the human readable name of the font you
wish to use. The font should be installed as a system font on your
system. If the Lao font has OpenType tables, the 'Script=Lao' definition
is used to make sure that the correct substitutions and positionings are
used, for combining vowels etc.
> 
> 2. Tomorrow I will be going to Laos for other business and will take time to
> meet with the director of IT integration for the government who created the
> national font (yes, they have a national font). Is there any information
> that I should get from him that would help in my Lao XeTeX project?

The two watchwords here are Unicode and OpenType: that glyphs are in
their proper Unicode positions, and the font comes with those handy
OpenType tables.

> Thank you,
> 
> Brian Wilson

I hope this helps.

Gareth.

-- 
Gareth Hughes

Department of Eastern Christianity
Oriental Institute
Pusey Lane
Oxford
OX1 2LE

+44 (0)1865 615331