
Ancient Greek Language Support
for LibreOffice / OpenOffice
Version: 1.6-beta8
Defining the font to use^
Since version 1.4-rc1, AncientGreek uses character styles to define the way text appears on the document.
By clicking the button next to the "Font Definition" option on the Main Dialog, the "Ibycus Keyboard Layout font configuration" dialog appears:
Ibycus Keyboard Layout font configuration on OS X
The font that is defined here, will be used by Ibycus Keyboard Layout "active" character style; the style that will be used to display Ancient Greek text.
There are two options available:
- Use my Default Font
The default font will be used (that is the font used by the document). In this case both the "active" and "inactive" styles will use the same font, and both of them will be automatically updated when the default font changes.
- Use Custom Font
AncientGreek proposes the use of its own font called AncientGreek (based on Alexey Kryukov's "Old Standard TT"), which can be installed using this dialog. The user can obviously select any other font from the list, making sure that it's capable of displaying Ancient Greek text. You can get more info about "AncientGreek font" on this page.
Users having set "Old Standard TT" as the default font for the "active" Ibycus Keyboard Layout style prior to version 1.5-beta2, should replace it with the AncientGreek font.
Font Installation^
If you decide to use AncientGreek own font, you will have to install it. Two options are available:
- Automatically (for the current user)
This is the default installation option for Linux and Mac OS.
The font installation is performed by AncientGreek, but the font is available for the current user only.
- Manually (for all users)
This is the default installation option for Windows, although it can be selected on any Operating System.
The font installation is manually performed by the user, who has to have administrator's rights. The font is available to all users (system wide installation).
Depending on your Operation System, I would propose to proceed as follows:
a. On Mac OS
On Mac OS one can install fonts for the current user only, so selecting "Automatically (for the current user)" is the way to go. The installation folder is "/Users/<Current User>/Library/Fonts".
When you get the previous message, and press "OK", the installation will be preformed.
As far as I've seen, OpenOffice/LibreOffice on Mac OS will not be able to use the new font before it's restarted. Until then, you can use the font setting (the program will try to find a substitute) but its rendering will be all wrong. You just continue working and save your document, and when you reopen it, everything will be in place.
b. On Linux
On Linux one can install fonts for the current user only, so selecting "Automatically (for the current user)" is the way to go. The installation folder is "/home/<Current User>/.fonts".
When you get the previous message, and press "OK", the installation will be preformed.
As far as I've seen, OpenOffice/LibreOffice on Linux will freeze for a while (while reading the new font) and then the font will be available for normal use.
Windows have only system wide fonts, so AncientGreek cannot install its font unless it's executed by the administrator, or a user with administrator's rights. Since AncientGreek has no way of knowing that, the installation has to be manually performed by the user.
As a result, AncientGreek supports the "Manually (for all users)" installation option only.
When you get the previous message, and press "OK", the font location will be opened in "Windows Explorer", so you can preform the installation.
As far as I've seen, OpenOffice/LibreOffice on Windows will freeze for a while (while reading the new font) and then the font will be available for normal use.
d. System wide installation (manual installation)
If you prefer to preform a system wide installation of the font on Mac OS or Linux (on Windows this is the only option), you just select "Manually (for all users)" at the "Ibycus Keyboard Layout font configuration dialog", and press "OK".
Then you will follow the procedure described in "On Windows". This means that your default file manager will open, providing access to the font's files, as shown in the following image:
The font files on Windows 8.1
The font files are:
- AncientGreek-Regular.ttf
- AncientGreek-Bold.ttf
- AncientGreek-Italic.ttf
The way to install the font files depends on your Operating System, so you should follow the procedure that's suitable for you.
If at any point you have font availability problems, just restart the program and the font should be available to you.
Updating the Font^
When a new version of AncientGreek font is available, the dialog will display "Update Font" instead of "Font Installation" and will make the installation options available to the user, as shown in the following picture:
Then the procedure of updating the font (actually re-installing it) is the same as described previously.
If you chose to use to "Manually" update the font (i.e. system wide - for all users), which is the only option available on Windows, AncientGreek will assume that the installation has actually taken place next time the dialog is opened, since there's no way to know the actual font style installed.