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Arabic Windows: Arabicizing Windows Applications to Read and Write Arabic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

al-Husein N. Madhany
al-Husein N. Madhany*
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago
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Extract

This paper is technical in nature. It provides detailed instructions for enabling Arabic reading and writing capabilities in most Microsoft Windows versions, the major word-processing applications, and the major Internet web browsers. This paper also discusses useful, time-tested hints and resources for using Arabic with Windows including enabling the Arabic Proofing Tools, enabling the On Screen Arabic Keyboard, typing right-to-left, typing Hindi numerals, defining Arabic romanization keyboards, and finding Arabic fonts, English/Arabic keyboards, Arabic QWERTY keyboards, and Arabic keytop labels. This paper has been adapted from a manuscript the author is currently writing on resources for Arabic language study in America and on the Internet.

Type
Essays
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , June 2004 , pp. 44 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 2004

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References

2 This paper focuses exclusively on Arabic support for Windows Applications. Those interested in Arabic language support for the Macintosh and for Linux and UNIX environments should consult http://www.hf.uib.no/i/smi/ksv/ and http://www.langbox.com/arabic/,respectively.

3 Because Microsoft continues to support Windows 2000 and Windows XP, they have instructions of their own for enabling international language support in these two versions of Windows. Their instructions are extremely helpful due to their use of screen shots to guide users through this process. If you want to add Arabic support to Windows 2000 or Windows XP, I encourage you to read the appropriate site below first For Windows 2000 read: http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/handson/user/2kintlsupp.mspx. For Windows XP read http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/handson/user/xpintlsupp.mspx.

4 N.B.: All instructions reflect a classical layout of the Windows operating system and do not conform to the Windows XP enhanced layout.

5 For an understanding of the issues related to Unicode and Arabic romanization/ transliteration fonts used in Microsoft Word 2000, see Meri, Josef W. “Software and Technology Review: Multilingual Computing in Middle East Studies,” MESA Bulletin, 34 (2000): 14–21,Google Scholar available here: http://fp,arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/meri%20software.htm.