Title: Kawthulei
Author: Ben
Published: <strong>February 26, 2013</strong>
Last modified: August 17, 2014

---

Search plugins

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/kawthulei.svg)

# Kawthulei

 By [Ben](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ben011/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/kawthulei.zip)

 * [Details](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/#installation)
 * [Development](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/kawthulei/)

## Description

This plugin is devoted to making it easier to use the Karen languages on the Internet.
Due to poor technical support, the Karen langauges currently have limited online
presence. However, with the help of this WordPress plugin, you can help change that.

The Karen languages are commonly written with a script derived from the Myanmar 
script. The Sgaw and Pwo Karen scripts are implemented in recent versions of Unicode
as an extension of the Myanmar script. However, many people may still be using psuedo-
Unicode Myanmar fonts, which commonly use minority language code points for their
own use. This causes a problem for browsers which don’t know which font to use, 
and commonly choose the wrong one, rendering Karen text unreadable.

The solution is to specifically assign the correct font to all Karen text. The primary
function of this plugin is to facilitate this assignment. It does this by scanning
content for Karen text, and assigning a CSS class containing font family information
to any text it finds.

## Installation

To complete installation of the Kawthulei plugin, you simply:

 1. Upload the `kawthulei` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/`
     directory. And activate
    the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

The WordPress framework does not make it easy to process post and page titles. To
enable Karen titles on your own theme, you’re going to have to modify your templates.
First, put the following function in your functions.php file.

    ```
    function yyp_the_displayed_title() { echo apply_filters(   'the_displayed_title', the_title( '', '', false ) );   } } 
    ```

Second, you need to change all occurences of `the_title();` in your template files
to `the_displayed_title();`.

## FAQ

#### Who are the Karen people?

The Karen people are an ethnic group in Thailand and Myanmar, and are the second
largest ethnic group in Myanmar. Most estimates place their population around 5 
million.

#### What on earth does “Kawthulei” mean?

“Kawthulei” is the name the Karens have traditionally call their homeland. The word
has been variously translated, but one translation is “Green land” or “Lush land”(“
Thulei” is the name of an delicious green edible plant that grows in aboundance 
there).

#### What is meant by Sgaw Karen? Pwo Karen?

There are a number of Karen tribes in Thailand and Myanmar speaking several dialects
of the Karenic language group. Two of those tribes are Sgaw and Pwo.

= What problems must be overcome for Karen to be commonly used on the Internet? 
=

The four main problems that a Karen speaker must overcome to use her language on
a computer are:

 1. Fonts for this language are not installed by default on most operating systems 
    and many people don’t know that real Unicode fonts exist.
 2. Psuedo-Unicode fonts often get in the way.
 3. Keyboards forthis language are not installed by default, and many people don’t 
    realize they are available at all. 1. Many applications don’t properly draw complex
    Myanmar fonts.

= I’m a developer, how can I help the Karen language move forward in the modern 
world? =

You can go to the (kanyawtech.org) wiki site, and learn how you can contribute there.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“Kawthulei” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this
plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Ben ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ben011/)

[Translate “Kawthulei” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/kawthulei)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/kawthulei/), check 
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/kawthulei/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/kawthulei/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/kawthulei/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.4

 * Changed to using my own font, Karen Text, rather than Tharlon or Padauk. This
   should work better on OS X and Windows 8.
 * Fixed some small bugs on OS X.

#### 1.3

 * Added the necessary Karen fonts to support Chrome and Safari on OSX.
 * Added CSS to select the proper font for WPML’s language switcher widgit.

#### 1.2

 * Added support for Pwo Karen.
 * Removed the canvas drawing and font changing scripts, remote font loading should
   be enough in most cases.

#### 1.1

 * Fixed a bug in the search filter hook
 * Added CSS to specify fonts, no longer any need to add this to the theme
 * Added remote font loading via the CSS `@font-face` rule
 * Added a script to try different fonts and apply the first one that displays correctly
 * Added script functionality to draw text on html canvas elements in cases where
   the native fonts are not able to display correctly (mostly webkit browsers, I
   think)

This version should work out of the box on any theme as long as you don’t use Karen
in post or page titles. Also, in order for the script to display a warning message
if it fails to display correctly, your theme will need to provide one. For more 
information, see the installation page.

#### 1.0

 * Initial release

## Meta

 *  Version **1.4**
 *  Last updated: **12 years ago**
 *  Active installations: **Fewer than 10**
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/kawthulei/advanced/)

## Ratings

 5 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  1 5-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/kawthulei/reviews/?filter=5)
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[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/kawthulei/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/kawthulei/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Ben ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ben011/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/kawthulei/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](http://kanyawtech.com/)