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Yiddish on the Computer
Summary
Yiddish Word Processing
Back to a Users' Guide to Yiddish on the Computer
The easiest and least costly way to do Yiddish word processing is to prepare your system for Unicode UTF-8. Follow the link for your operating system at A Users' Guide to Yiddish on the Computer for instructions. However, depending on your system's limitations and on your needs, you may wish to use a commercial program instead. Remember that if you use a word processor which does not use Unicode UTF-8, you might not be able to easily share your documents electronically with others, and you may not be able to easily paste your text into an email message. Also,
The following chart is merely a brief summary of some word processing programs that can handle Yiddish.
Word Processing Programs
Yiddish Keyboards & Unicode
| Windows Operating System |
Programs | Comments | Unicode UTF-8 (Compatible?) |
Yiddish Keyboard Layout(s) |
| Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 | Word | "Free" with Microsoft Office; i.e., comes with most computers pre-installed. State of the art word processing features. | Yes | Your choice - download(s) available |
| Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP | Wordpad | Free. Comes with Windows pre-installed. Basic features (bold, italics, centering, change font & point size, etc.) . | Yes | Your choice - download(s) available |
| Windows 98, ME (probably 2000 & XP) | AbiWord BiDi | Free. Basic features (bold, italics, centering, etc.) NOTE: Version 1.0.2 did NOT work for Yiddish - Does the current version? | Yes | Your choice - download(s) available |
| Windows 98, ME (probably 2000 & XP) | Ding Dang Write 2000 (DRich) | Free. Basic features (bold, italics, centering, change font & point size, etc.) | Yes | Your choice - download(s) available |
| Windows 95 | Outlook Express | Free. Basic features (bold, italics, centering, etc.). Cannot omit footers and headers when printing. | Yes | Your choice - download(s) available |
| Windows | Dvir: QText |
Full featured word processing. Development no longer supported. Helps in creating lengthy Yiddish web pages. | No | UYIP std. + custom + can download phonetic from UYIP |
| Windows | Unitype: GlobalWriter 98 | Full featured word processing. | Yes, but hard to import or export. | phonetic (theoretically custom but w/o support from Company) |
| Windows | WYSIWIG: Universal Word | Full featured word processing. | No (more info) | UYIP std. + custom |
(Windows above)
Mac:
| Mac Operating System | Programs | Comments | Unicode UTF-8 (Compatible?) |
Yiddish Keyboard Layout(s) |
| Mac OS X 10.3.9 and up | Nisus Writer Express | Multilingual word processing. Might import Yiddish doc's created in Nisus Writer Classic |
Yes |
Choices - all OS keyboards See OS Notes |
| Mac OS X 10.2 and up | Mellel | Word processing. Solves OS X Right-to-Left issues. | Yes |
Choices - all OS keyboards See OS Notes |
| Mac Classic OS (thru 9.2) | Nisus Writer Classic | Full featured word processing. | No |
Choices - all OS keyboards See OS Notes |
| Mac OS X 10.2 and up | TextEdit | Text editor. Comes with OS. | Yes |
Choices - all OS keyboards See OS Notes |
Obviously, there are more criteria to consider in choosing a word processing program. There are also more programs which are being explored and/or developed for Yiddish. The above is not a complete list. You can read more about these programs at UYIP.
Read about Yiddish Email and Yiddish Web pages.
Back to A Users' Guide to Yiddish on the Internet for an overview.
2/16/10 0:38 AM
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