Resources
ID cards that spell a child’s name properly
AuthExit prints student ID cards with names in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Arabic — correctly shaped, in the right order, on the card itself. Not boxes, and not the name flattened into English because the software could not cope.
Example cards at actual proportions — ID-1 / CR80, 85.5 × 54 mm, the size every badge holder and lanyard sleeve takes. The names and the school are invented; the QR codes are real.
Scripts supported
Why this is harder than it sounds
Most software that prints a PDF maps each character to a glyph and draws it. That is enough for English. It is not enough for most of the world’s scripts, and the failure is not subtle:
- Indian scripts reorder. In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam a vowel sign is stored after its consonant but printed before it, and consonants combine into conjunct forms. Skip that and you get the marks in the wrong places and a stray halant where letters should have joined.
- Arabic joins. Every letter has initial, medial and final forms depending on its neighbours. Unshaped, it prints as a row of disconnected stumps.
Loading a font does not solve this — a font supplies shapes, not layout. AuthExit lays these names out with the same text engine that renders them correctly on screen, then places the result on the card.
One card, two systems
The QR code on the card is the student’s identity everywhere the school uses it. Scanned at the door it records arrival and closes a pickup request at dismissal; scanned at the library desk it borrows and returns books. There is no second card to issue, and nothing extra to replace when one is lost.
Printed for the whole school in one pass
Cards are generated for every student at once as a single password-protected PDF, laid out for folded US-Letter stock. No card printer, no per-student design step, and the password means the file can be emailed without handing the roster to whoever forwards it.
Common questions
- Can you print student ID cards with names in Tamil or Telugu?
- Yes. AuthExit prints a student’s name in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi or Arabic on the card itself, correctly shaped and in the right order — not as boxes, and not transliterated into English.
- Why do other tools get this wrong?
- Most PDF generators map characters straight to glyphs without running OpenType shaping. Indian scripts need conjunct formation and vowel-sign reordering, and Arabic needs contextual joining, so unshaped text comes out with stray marks, letters in the wrong order, or disconnected stumps. Adding a font does not fix it — the font supplies shapes, not layout.
- Can the card carry both the local script and English?
- Yes. A card can show the name as the family writes it and the school’s own name in English, on the same card.
- What does the QR code on the card do?
- It identifies the student. The same code is scanned at the door for arrival and dismissal, and at the library desk to borrow and return books — one card, both systems, no second credential to issue or lose.
- How are the cards produced?
- For the whole school at once, as a single password-protected PDF laid out for folded US-Letter printing. There is no per-card design step and no special printer.
ID cards are one part of AuthExit, which also runs the car line, classroom attendance and the school library from the same roster.