DESCRIPTION Sinhala language has been in use in computer technology since the late 1980s. However, as no standard character representation system was put in place from the beginning it resulted in proprietary character representation systems and fonts. Then the Unicode standard, which has the explicit aim of transcending the limitations of traditional character encodings, was introduced to Sinhala in 1998. But even now, some major websites in Sinhala have still not adopted the standard which causes lot of compatibility issues when viewed in different browsers and operating systems. SiyaBasScript is a Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome extension which can convert web sites with non-Unicode Sinhala fonts to Unicode. This means SiyaBasScript not only allows the hasslefree viewing of a numerous web pages but allows copying and pasting of earlier non-Unicode content to Unicode enabled sites using browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. This allows quoting, referencing and sharing of content via Unicode enabled sites that was nearly impossible when they were available as non-Unicode content.
EVALUATION Although Unicode has been considered as the standard for creating and viewing Sinhala language content, some Sri Lankan websites including some famous news sites still create content in non-Unicode and misuse methods that are for styling webpages, to display Sinhala text in various other font-faces. Although users can get around the problem of missing font files by installing them in the computer or using embedded online font files, it causes unnecessary disruptions. SiyaBasScript extension solves the problem by converting that text to Sinhala Unicode. It will help to increase the content of World Wide Web in Sinhala Unicode, allowing a far easier standard of representing, searching, sorting and processing knowledge. This takes away the need of recommending or restricting users to certain browsers for viewing, editing and sharing localized content.
