Welcome!
This
site is dedicated to those who championed the 19th century English
spelling reform known as the Deseret Alphabet. It was originally
designed to help new converts of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) who came from many countries in the early
days of the church to Utah (app. 1855-1875). Brigham Young, who
directed these migrations, wished to integrate these people as quickly
as possible into the church and also the English-speaking United
States. He thought English spelling reform would be greatly beneficial
in this respect. Although the reform was quite successful for some time
among church members, it eventually was discontinued, especially after
its greatest proponent, Brigham Young, passed away in 1877.
I am
including on the left hand side of this page some links that will
give you a lot more information about the Deseret alphabet, its
history,
and also how it has been adapted for use on computers and the internet
(some links are quite technical). The alphabet is already an accepted
part of Unicode (a process for producing scripts on computers in all
languages). There are non-Unicode adaptations of the alphabet, but I am
employing only the official Unicode forms of the script for my internet
pages. As a result, you will
need to ensure that your computer has the proper fonts. If you are
using a computer with later versions of Windows (Windows 7 and later),
you should
click on the links in the right side bar that are titled "FOR PC
BROWSERS (post Windows 6)". That will take you to the page where you
can access the links
to the pages that will display the script properly in those browsers.
To
access the Deseret pages for Apple and Tablet/Smartphone
browsers you will find
links under the section "FOR APPLE AND TABLET/SMART PHONE BROWSERS"
that also display the
script properly . If you have versions of Windows older than 7, you may
have to download and install the font 'Code2001.ttf' by James
Kass. It is free, and can be downloaded
from www.alanwood.net. If you
do an Internet search for the font you can probably find it at other
font sites also.
Another, smaller font that you can download from the alanwood.net site
that is also free and will display Unicode Deseret is 'Analecta.ttf' by
George
Douros. Both 'Code2001.ttf' and 'Analecta.ttf' will display Deseret
characters, but, using Analecta or Code 2001, you will have to download
and modify this web page
(change the html to display either of those fonts) to view
the pages in those fonts.
It
must be noted that the pages
for Apple and Tablet/Smart Phone Browsers display the lower and upper
case Deseret "vee" glyph incorrectly (I use the Google font 'Noto Sans Deseret' for those pages -- Google is working to correct those glyphs). Those glyphs look rather like ampersand glyphs, instead of the Deseret glyphs that are similar to the Latin 'B'. That is unfortunate, but as I mentioned, Google is working to correct that glitch. Nevertheless, until corrected it is not very hard to get used to the difference.
I also
have
included links to 2 Deseret script .epub ebooks (actually '.epub2'
form) and the same books as .pdf's, included on the right-hand side of page (Links to E-Books). For the .pdf's form simply use the
normal Adobe reader. However, for the epub form there are many
'readers', some for computers, some for
tablet devices, some for smart phones. Many of these readers cannot
reproduce the script. For Windows and Apple computers,
as long as you
have the any of the two fonts I mentioned, you can read the ebooks by
downloading the proper version of Adobe Digital Editions and installing it. Another good one
is Azardi (fairly good for 'epub3'
books, by the way).
For Android devices (tablets or smart phones), the readers I have found
that will
actually reproduce the ebooks correctly are "Moon+ Reader" and
"Gitden"
available from
Google Play Apps. I have also found two readers for
Apple tablet/smart phone devices that will automatically
reproduce the
proper
font. They are "Marvin" and "Gitden", available from the Apple apps
store.
NEW! Here is a new pdf file, you may enjoy perusing: Bulletin of Brigham Young Sayings
ANOTHER NEW! Here is a normal web page, using the new Google font Noto Sans Deseret, you may also enjoy perusing!: Deseret Alphabet Musings
STILL ANOTHER NEW! Here is my new Deseret Wiki. If you can write in Unicode-compliant Deseret Alphabet script, you can even comment in Deseret Alphabet. If you cannot write in Unicode-compliant DA, you may still wish to visit the site in order to make general comments, if you wish. However, in order to do so you must first register on the site. It is located at: Zybtster Deseret Wiki
That's
about it. Enjoy exploring the Deseret Alphabet!
©
COPYRIGHT
2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WWW.ZYBTSTER.COM