National_Fonts

National Fonts

National Fonts

Freely-licensed Thai script fonts

The National Fonts (Thai: ฟอนต์แห่งชาติ; RTGS: [font] haeng chat)[1] are sets of freely-licensed computer fonts for the Thai script sponsored by the Thai government. The original National Fonts include three Thai typefaces released by NECTEC in 2001, while a follow-up program, more specifically known as the fourteen National Fonts, or colloquially SIPA fonts (Thai: ฟอนต์ซิป้า),[2] include fourteen typefaces distributed and used by the Government of Thailand as public and official fonts after they won a national competition held in 2007. The fonts and all of their subsequently developed versions are released by the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Public Organisation), or SIPA, together with the Department of Intellectual Property through f0nt.com, and can be downloaded freely on the website.[3]

The font "TH Sarabun PSK" is used on the Thai Wikipedia's current logo.

History

The "Standard Fonts for Thai Public Sectors" Project

The competition was organised by Abhisit Vejjajiva's Council of Ministers, with a view to replacing all existing fonts the Thai Government had bought from the private sector, including Microsoft's Angsana New, Browalia New, Cordia New, and EucrosiaUPC, which were extensively used at that time, with fonts created by Thai nationals. The competition was part of the "Standard Fonts for Thai Public Sectors" Project (โครงการฟอนต์มาตรฐานราชการไทย) proposed by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. The Ministry was quoted as saying: "...Various fonts are now used among the public agencies, that's why the state papers have never become standard. The fonts are also from the private companies which monopolise the rights over them, so we cannot use them as much as we should...".[4][failed verification]

On 7 September 2010, the Council of Ministers officially announced the thirteen fonts as the public fonts, naming them the "national fonts". The public agencies were ordered to use these fonts, especially TH Sarabun PSK, in their state papers. They were required to cease to use the private sector's fonts by 5 December 2010, King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 83rd birthday. The legislative branch and the judicial branch were also asked for cooperation.[5]

Revision by Cadson Demak and Google Fonts

In 2018, Cadson Demak (Thai: คัดสรร ดีมาก), a local font foundry worked with Google Fonts to revise all existing 13 National Fonts, providing them with more hinting, a wider range of weights, and better Unicode support. There is also a new font "Thasadith" which was inspired by TH Srisakdi. All of those fonts were released under Open Font License.[6][7] Cadson Demak expected that the release of these revised National Fonts to Google Fonts would result in higher adoption of Thai looped typefaces compared to Thai loopless typefaces. [8]

Addition of Chulabhorn Likhit

On 6 July 2021, the Council of Ministers officially approved the royal font set "Chulabhorn Likhit", the 14th Thai government standard font set as proposed by the Chulabhorn Royal Academy. The font is named to celebrate Princess Chulabhorn on the occasion of her 64th birthday and her graduation from the Doctor of Philosophy program in the Visual Arts Department, Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts at Silpakorn University.[9]

Adoption

The 'Decision of the Constitutional Court No. 12-14/2553' which is published in the Government Gazette using the font "TH Sarabun PSK"

The font "TH Sarabun PSK" has been used in the Government Gazette of Thailand (Thai: ราชกิจจานุเบกษา; RTGS: Ratchakitchanubeksa) since January 2011, replacing Angsana New. The Gazette's first volume using such font is volume 128, part 1 A, dated 7 January 2011, in which the "Ministerial Regulation Determining the Criteria and Procedure for Acknowledging the Aircraft Type Certificates or Supplementary Type Certificates issues by the State Parties to the Conventions governing the Application for Certificates of Airworthiness or by the States with which Thailand has adopted the similar Agreements, BE 2553 (2010)" ("กฎกระทรวงกำหนดหลักเกณฑ์และวิธีการรับรองใบรับรองแบบอากาศยานหรือใบรับรองแบบส่วนเพิ่มเติมที่ออกโดยรัฐภาคีแห่งอนุสัญญาหรือประเทศที่ได้ทำความตกลงกับประเทศไทย เพื่อขอใบสำคัญสมควรเดินอากาศ พ.ศ. 2553") was published.[10]

The font "TH Sarabun PSK" is also used on the current logo of Thai Wikipedia. This version of the logo was designed by Pratya Singto (ปรัชญา สิงห์โต), a graphic designer who runs f0nt.com, and was adopted by the Community as it won a competition in 2008.[11]

List of fonts

The following table list all 14 National Fonts.[3]

More information #, Name ...

Google Fonts

There are currently 1639 font families on Google Fonts. 32 of those supports Thai script. The following table list all of the 32 fonts families.

More information Popularity ranking, Name ...

Notes

  1. Suppakit Chalermlarp is now working for Cadson Demak.[14]

References

  1. [1]
    ไทยรัฐออนไลน์ (2011-01-20). "ซิป้า จับมือ กรมทรัพย์สินฯ ทางปัญญา ยิ้มร่าอวดโฉม 13 ฟอนต์ไทย ใช้ในหน่วยงานราชการ". Archived from the original on 2011-01-30. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  2. [2]
    ไทยรัฐออนไลน์ (2010-12-13). "รัฐบาลกลัวละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ ให้ส่วนราชการใช้ฟอนต์ไทยจากซิป้า". Archived from the original on 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  3. [3]
    ฟ๐นต์.คอม (2007-06-28). "13 ฟอนต์ฟรีมาตรฐาน จากสำนักงานส่งเสริมอุตสาหกรรมซอฟต์แวร์แห่งชาติ (SIPA)". Retrieved 2011-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. [4]
    ฟ๐นต์.คอม (2010-09-08). "สั่งราชการโละฟอนต์ต่างชาติ ใช้ฟอนต์ไทยแลนด์". Retrieved 2011-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. [5]
    กรมประชาสัมพันธ์ (2010-09-07). "ครม.เห็นชอบให้ทุกหน่วยงานภาครัฐ ดำเนินการติดตั้งฟอนต์สารบรรณเพิ่ม". Archived from the original on 2010-09-12. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  6. [6]
    Kosolkarn, Kamolkarn. "13+1 Thai Fonts - Cadson® Demak". cadsondemak.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  7. [7]
    V, Poonlap (Mar 21, 2019). "Google Thai Fonts". Medium. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  8. [8]
    Kosolkarn, Kamolkarn. "ความนิยมในภาษาไทยมีหัว - Cadson® Demak". cadsondemak.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  9. [9]
    สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี (2021-06-07). "ครม.เห็นชอบให้ชุดแบบอักษรพระราชทาน "จุฬาภรณ์ลิขิต" เป็นชุดแบบอักษรมาตรฐานราชการไทยแบบที่ 14". Archived from the original on 2021-08-12. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  10. [10]
    ราชกิจจานุเบกษา (2011-01-07). "กฎกระทรวงกำหนดหลักเกณฑ์และวิธีการรับรองใบรับรองแบบอากาศยานหรือใบรับรองแบบส่วนเพิ่มเติมที่ออกโดยรัฐภาคีแห่งอนุสัญญาหรือประเทศที่ได้ทำความตกลงกับประเทศไทย เพื่อขอใบสำคัญสมควรเดินอากาศ พ.ศ. 2553" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  11. [11]
    ฟ๐นต์.คอม (2008-06-05). "กระจู๋: อันว่าด้วยโลโก้วิกิพีเดียไทย". Retrieved 2011-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. [12]
    "ฟอนต์.คอม » ฟอนต์สารบรรณ รุ่นปรับปรุงใหม่ "Sarabun New"". 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  13. [13]
    "เอกลักษณ์ เพียรพนาเวช คนบ้าตัวอักษร". Who? Weekly Magazine. 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  14. [14]
    "About Us".
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