Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of fonts do RIT develop?

RIT designs, engineers, develops, maintains and distributes traditional orthography typefaces for Malayalam script. All the fonts RIT develops follows the definitive script of Malayalam, particularly preserving the elegant curves of reph and u/uu-kar forms of consonant–vowel conjuncts.

What is Malayalam script?

Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken primarily in Kerala, a southern state in India. Malayalam script (മലയാളലിപി) is derived from Brahmi script, following alphasyllabary (abugida) writing system.

What is ‘definitive script’?

1. ‘Definitive script’ (സമഗ്രലിപി) defines following properties of the character set in a font:
2. All the valid characters (vowels, consonants and conjuncts) are included in the definitive script
3. No invalid combination/character shapes are included in the definitive script
4. Reph and u/uu-kar forms always conjoin with the base character. രേഫം (ര ചിഹ്നം), ഉ/ഊ ചിഹ്നങ്ങൾ എന്നിവ എല്ലായ്പോഴും അടിസ്ഥാന അക്ഷരത്തോടു ചേര്‍ന്നിരിക്കും.
5. When a conjunct form is not available in a font (such as ‘limited character set’ fonts), the character should still form valid reph/u/uu-kar shapes.

What license do the RIT fonts use? RIT fonts are licensed generously under the OFL — Open Font License. Can I freely download, use and share RIT fonts with others? Yes — OFL permits free use for personal and commercial purpose and distribute to others. I use the RIT fonts for commercial work? Yes — you may use and/or embed the RIT fonts in commercial works like books, designs etc. I’m developing a font — can I use glyphs from the RIT fonts? Yes — you may use glyphs from RIT fonts, and your font must also be licensed under OFL. Can I sell the RIT fonts? No — you may not sell the RIT fonts themselves as required by OFL. It is permitted to include RIT fonts in other softwares though. We are a media/publishing house who want to use RIT fonts. Does RIT provide any commercial support? Yes — please contact us.