Tamil fontsதமிழ்
Tamil typefaces for print, screen and signage. Tamil has few conjuncts, so the differences between fonts come down to stroke, rhythm and how the vowel signs sit.
3 open-licensed fonts that can set Tamil, each free to download for personal and commercial work.
Unicode, not TSCII
Older Tamil text was often encoded in TSCII or typed in legacy fonts such as Bamini. These fonts are Unicode, so legacy text has to be converted before it displays correctly.
Long words
Tamil words run long and several letters are wide. If a headline has to fit a fixed space, compare a few fonts at your real size — widths vary more than they do in Latin type.
Setting Tamil text
Tamil needs a text engine that places vowel signs, some of which sit before their consonant. Word and current browsers handle it. In Photoshop, switch to the Middle Eastern and South Asian text engine under Preferences → Type.