Template talk:Script/Cuneiform

Protection ?
editprotect: Hi Admin, I took the doc out into /doc. Maybe it should be protected by pp-template, or maybe not. Please take a look at risk and usage, might be low. As far as I can see, no discussion going on. Thanx anyway. -DePiep (talk) 22:28, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It is used on less than 100 pages so I don't think there is a need for protection. In the future, please add protection requests to WP:RFPP. - Rjd0060 (talk) 13:45, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
 * OK 1, OK 2. -DePiep (talk) 19:37, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Webfonts!
Hi!

Great news: The English Wikipedia now supports webfonts. It is one of the features of the UniversalLanguageSelector extension that was enabled here a few minutes ago.

One of the fonts that it serves is Akkadian, which supports cuneiform, so users don't have to install fonts manually any more to see the ancient writing.

It shows itself when the value of the lang attribute is "akk" or "sux". I experimented with it in this edit, and it worked, but I guess that this template should be modified to make it easier to use. Can anybody please do it?

If you want to add support for more language codes or to add another font, it is possible - just let me know or open a bug in Bugzilla. (Please note that the font must be freely licensed.)

Thanks! --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 08:41, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I'll elaborate a bit. What needs to be done is this:
 * The main way in which the UniversalLanguageSelector extension picks the font is the HTML lang attribute. Currently it applies the Akkadian font to HTML elements with lang set to akk and sux. More language codes can be added. Also, different fonts can be applied to different languages, but currently the only one that we have with cuneiform is Akkadian; if other fonts are needed, they can be added, but they have to be explicitly released under a free license, such as OFL, GPL, BSD, MIT, Public Domain, etc.
 * Therefore, this template should provide a convenient way to specify the language code. A lang attribute must be there in any case - this is generally good HTML writing practice. I'm not sure what would be the best way to do it, though, and I'd like to hear the suggestions of the people who are experienced with developing and using this template.
 * Another issue is the usage of the language codes for cuneiform and for transliteration. Akkadian written in cuneiform and in Latin transliteration is both "akk", but it doesn't make a lot of sense to apply a cuneiform font to Latin text. Therefore we should adopt different codes. I'm not sure which codes to pick. It should probably be one of the following options:
 * akk / akk-latn
 * akk-xsux / akk-latn
 * akk-xsux / akk
 * I think that I prefer the first one, but I'd love to hear the opinions of people who know more about cuneiform - is there an established practiced for using the different codes?
 * Yet another thing is explicit font names. The extension can be used with them. It must be remembered, though, that if a font is available as a webfont, and requested in the font-family rule, then it will be used. This means that the current values that put Akkadian first are not so useful, because Akkadian will definitely be used, and all the fonts after it will be ignored.
 * Your help is very welcome! Thank you. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 17:16, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I just want to thank you here very quickly about the fact that this fix will force Safari 6.0.5 to display cuneiform correctly on Macs like mine correctly.
 * Thanks a lot!
 * –&thinsp;RandomDSdevel (talk) 22:26, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

HTML comment
The switch case for hit= has an unterminated HTML comment. (It should end in --> rather than --!>.) This comments out later cases up to the next comment. Please can someone with a clue remove the stray "!" and test? I don't know this template well enough to be sure whether it worked or broke anything else. Thanks, Certes (talk) 17:35, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Neo-Babylonian font
Would it be possible to add an eighth number to the first parameter that would be able to render Neo-Babylonian cuneiform following the Esagil font? Antiquistik (talk) 10:00, 9 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Is this something you can do? Antiquistik (talk) 01:11, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't know anything about Cuneiform.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 14:02, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * What about rewriting the template to display text in a specific template? Antiquistik (talk) 08:44, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't understand your question. Are you sure that you wrote what you intended to write?
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:39, 14 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, I am sure.
 * The template displays cuneiform text in certain fonts when some of the numbered parameters are used, e.g. using "7" displays cuneiform text in the Neo-Assyrian font.
 * I need someone who can edit this template to make it do the same for Neo-Babylonian font. Antiquistik (talk) 12:58, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * You wrote: What about rewriting the template to display text in a specific template? (emphasis added) that second template makes no sense.
 * It is not clear to me that the template works as intended. For me, all of these render exactly the same except for the tool tip:
 * 𒉈𒅆𒇷 ←
 * 𒉈𒅆𒇷 ←
 * That suggests to me that the template is of little or no use to our readers.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:47, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Numbers 4, 5 and 7 do render differently for me because I have the relevant fonts downloaded though. Antiquistik (talk) 07:10, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * 𒉈𒅆𒇷 ←
 * 𒉈𒅆𒇷 ←
 * That suggests to me that the template is of little or no use to our readers.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:47, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Numbers 4, 5 and 7 do render differently for me because I have the relevant fonts downloaded though. Antiquistik (talk) 07:10, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
 * That suggests to me that the template is of little or no use to our readers.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:47, 16 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Numbers 4, 5 and 7 do render differently for me because I have the relevant fonts downloaded though. Antiquistik (talk) 07:10, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

This template works for me, since the parameter   displays Neo-Assyrian cuneiform on my browser because I have the relevant font installed on my device.

Would it be possible for you to download the fonts at and  and rework the template so that these following parameters render the text in these following fonts:
 *   should render cuneiform in the UllikummiA font;
 *   should render cuneiform in the SantakkuM font (and the title should be changed from "Old Assyrian cuneiform" to "Old Babylonian cuneiform";
 *   should render cuneiform in the Assurbanipal font;
 *   should render cuneiform in the Esagil font.

If possible, the use of the template with one of these parameters on a page should also cause a message to display on that page to readers without the relevant font installed telling them to download and install said font, similarly to how the same feature is present on Wiktionary pages containing Hittite cuneiform script.

Antiquistik (talk) 06:14, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

Changes to the template
I've made several changes to the template over the past few days:
 * 1) I've expanded the range of the template to cover Hattic, Hurrian, Luwian, Neo-Babylonian, Old Babylonian, Palaic and Urartian cuneiform text.
 * 2) *I have also introduced parameters for other known stages of cuneiform that are attested but for which no fonts are presently available.
 * 3) I have been forced to remove the titles and back-fonts because maintaining them was causing the template to malfunction.
 * 4) *The titles were also an issue because they would show up instead of the language titles when the template is used.
 * 5) **This causes problems when, for example, writing text in Sumerian language from the Old Babylonian or Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian periods: the text's label only shows that it is cuneiform from these periods, but does not show the language.

If anyone has any issue with these changes, I am more than willing to discuss it so we can resolve the issues with this template in a way that helps everyone. Antiquistik (talk) 12:20, 28 May 2024 (UTC)