Charis SIL

{{Infobox font

| name = Charis SIL

| image = Charis SIL specimen.svg

| style = Serif

| classifications = Slab serif

| releasedate = 2006

| based_on = Bitstream Charter

| creator = SIL International

| license = SIL Open Font License

| sample = 220px

| website = {{url|https://software.sil.org/charis/}}

|}}

Charis SIL ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɛər|ɪ|s}}) is a slab serif typeface developed by SIL International based on Bitstream Charter, one of the first fonts designed for laser printers. The font offers four family members: roman, bold, italic, and bold italic.

Its design goal is to "provide a single Unicode-based font family that would contain a comprehensive inventory of glyphs needed for almost any Roman- or Cyrillic-based writing system, whether used for phonetic or orthographic needs."{{cite web|url=http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=CharisSIL |title= Charis SIL (Home Page)|date= 2 October 2014}}

Charis SIL supports Graphite, OpenType, and AAT technologies for advanced rendering features. Along with Doulos SIL and Gentium, it is licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL),{{Cite web |title=SIL Open Font License (OFL) |url=https://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL |website=scripts.sil.org}} and can be downloaded free of charge.[http://software.sil.org/charis/download/ Download page on sil.org]

Version 6.2 of the font, with over 3,800 glyphs,{{Cite web |title=Character Set Support |author= |website=Charis SIL |date= 17 September 2015|access-date=16 August 2022 |url= https://software.sil.org/charis/charset/}} current {{As of|2023|lc=y}}, was released on 1 February 2023.{{cite web |title=Current Versions |publisher=SIL International |year=2022 |url=http://software.sil.org/charis/download/ |access-date=2022-08-16}}

File:SIL font feature selection (Gentium).png Book Plus font with 'a' and 'g' set to primer style]]

File:SIL font feature selection (Andika) 2.png font with two features selected]]

Variant forms of many characters can be chosen in the word-processor. For example, for primer-style 'a' and 'g', append ss01=1 to the name of the font in the font-selection window. (Features are appended with a colon and linked with an ampersand – see images at left.) Alternatively, customized versions of the fonts can be created with TypeTuner, prior to download, that have those forms preset.[https://scripts.sil.org/ttw/fonts2go.cgi TypeTuner Web homepage]

Features that may be chosen include small capitals, primer-style 'a' and 'g', roman-style 'a' and 'g' in italic typeface, variant forms of capital 'Ŋ', large modifier letter apostrophe and Saltillo, Vietnamese-style diacritics, Serbian-style italics (in Cyrillic), staveless tone letters, and automatic fractions.[https://software.sil.org/charis/features/ Charis: features]

Phonetician John C. Wells has recommended Charis SIL as an excellent font for displaying IPA symbols.{{cite web |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm |title=IPA transcription in Unicode |last=Wells |first=John |author-link=John C. Wells |publisher=University College London |date=2012-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202074019/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm |archive-date=2007-12-02 |url-status=dead }}