For purposes of reading Russian on the internet, "Russifying" your home computer can be fairly easy. It is a three-step process requiring you to 1) download a font from the Internet 2) add a font to your computer and 3) load that font into your browser (ie. Netscape, Internet Explorer, or Mosaic). After the font is added, you simply change the "Proportional font" setting on your browser in order to make the Cyrillic readable. For the techno-phobic among you who don't like to mess with your computer anymore than you have to... these steps are fairly easy to follow, and don't involve anything that will pemanently change any computer settings.

If you'd like to learn a little more about how fonts work, why there are so many different Russian fonts out there, or are confused on which font to download, read the details below.

If you are impatient, and want to get right to the fonts, the following sites will give you instructions on how to download the fonts, where to place them in your computer, and how to prepare your browser to read the pages.

CCSI recommends trying the following sites to "Russify" your Mac or PC.

Friends & Partners
http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/friends/cyrillic/cyrillic.html
A good place to start browing. Gives links to different sites for Russian fonts for PC, Mac or Unix systems as well as various Russian language resources on the Web.

Russification of Mac
http://www.pitt.edu/~mapst57/rus/config.html
This site gives instructions for loading the software into the browser, but not how to install fonts. Most Mac sites, including this one, seem to assume you know how to load the fonts into your computer.

SovInform Bureau
http://www.siber.com/sib/
A complete site. It gives directions for many different computer systems from Windows, DOS, OS/2, as well as Macs, Amigas and others. Many files are zipped, but the software to unzip these files is also available at the site. Step-by-step instructions are available, and links to more detailed information is also given. This site also gives instructions for keyboard drivers and more advanced levels of Russification of Netscape and other browsers. This site is perfect for those who wish to take the Russification of their computer to the advanced stage.

Using Cyrillic on the Internet

Why reading Russian is different than reading English on the Internet

Do I need to load all these different KOI-8, DOS/866, Windows/1251 fonts?

The requirements for communicating in Cyrillic on the Internet can vary depending on which computers and what software are being used at each end. A single standard does not yet exist which allows anybody on the Internet, using a few simple keystrokes, to switch from Latin to Cyrillic characters and back.

The challenge of using Cyrillic on the Internet breaks down into two separate problems:

• Being able to read documents at an Internet site that are written in Cyrillic characters;
• Being able to compose a message in Cyrillic and send it to the NIS or, vice-versa, being able to display a received message that was written in Cyrillic.

This page will currently focus only on the first problem: Reading documents on the Internet that are written in Cyrillic characters.

When we type text in English (or any Latin character-based language) on our computer, we are using what is called the �ASCII character set.� Every time we strike a letter or symbol on our keyboard, this action is converted into a number corresponding to the ASCII character set. The range of numbers is from 1 to 126. The word �and,� for example is represented by the numbers 97, 110, 100. (If it were all upper case �AND,� the numbers would be 65, 78, 68.)

When writing in standard English, we are in effect sending strings of numbers ranging from 1 to 126 to the computer�s processor, to be displayed on a screen, stored in memory�or transmitted on the Internet.

And here is the problem as far as communicating on the Internet in Russian is concerned. Computer users in Russia use numbers above 126 to represent the characters and symbols on a Cyrillic keyboard and, unfortunately, there is not yet a standard coding scheme that always assigns the same unique number to each Cyrillic character or symbol. In fact, there are three major Cyrillic character sets (sometimes called coding schemes) which correspond to the three major computer operating systems used in Russia and the NIS:

• AV (Alternatyvni' Variant) is the standard used for DOS computers. Sometimes called Code Page 866, AV has been the most commonly used character set for PCs in the NIS, since Windows has arrived there later than in the U.S.
• KOI-8 is the standard used for UNIX machines. Since the Internet is a UNIX-based system and most people in the NIS access their e-mail accounts from a UNIX machine, KOI-8 is probably the most commonly used standard for e-mail in the region. KOI-8 is also supported by Relcom, the major e-mail access provider in the NIS.
• Code Page 1251 is the standard used for Microsoft Windows software. This character set is gaining popularity as Windows spreads in the NIS.

The easiest font to find and download on the Internet seems to be KOI-8, followed by Windows and then DOS fonts. It is possible to load all three of these fonts into your computer if you wish. The advantage to that is that you will be able to read all the pages you run into.

In my experience many sites upload their information using more than one Russian font (including our Russian-language section on the site), so if you arrive with the ability to read only with KOI-8 fonts, you will be able to access their information using their KOI-8 pages, but if someone else arrives with the ability to read only Windows fonts, they will be able to access the same pages reproduced exactly for Windows fonts. The advantage to having all three fonts loaded is that on the chance you run into a page that is available only in one font (maybe ONLY in KOI-8) then you will be guaranteed the ability to read it by simply switching the font on your browser.

However, if you've been on the internet for a while, you know that everything imaginable is already out there. That means, someone has already found a way to let you read a page in Russian, even if you don't have that particular font loaded on your computer. If you only load one font onto your computer, I advise you either bookmark or write down the address below. This page is an automated program that will rewrite any traditional Russian font page into whatever font you wish. In other words, if you run into a Windows font page that you want to read, but you only have a KOI-8 font, you can go to this page and by following the simple directions it will reproduce the page for you so you can read the page in the KOI-8 font. The URL for this program is:

http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~isandler/cyrconv.html

That is it for the quick and dirty lesson on Cyrillic on the Internet. Next you need to choose one of the links in order to find and load fonts onto your computer. Then follow the instructions at the site on how to load the fonts into your browser, and you will be set.

Any comments, questions or clarifications on this section can be directed to Deirdre Shelly

This page is: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/cyrillic.htm
Return to the CCSI home page: http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/