-
Hindi Word Processor Developed
Nycil George, Jan 26, 2006 1053 hrs ISTMadhyam, a Hindi Word Processor, has been developed by Balendu Sharma Dadhich, a Delhi-based software developer.
Madhyam, a Hindi Word Processor, developed by Balendu Sharma Dadhich, a New Delhi-based editor and software developer, has received remarkable response from end users after it was made available for free download on his official website.
The software complies with the Inscript Devnagari Text Input Standard authenticated by the Government, the Unicode Consortium, and the Indian Bureau of Standards. Originally developed for Hindi, it also allows text input in other languages that follow the Devnagari script, i.e. Marathi, Sanskrit, Nepali, Bhojpuri and Konkani. The free software can be used for creating, opening, saving and modifying text files, taking print-outs, sending email and surfing a Hindi website. Madhyam is 1.4 MB in size and presently doesn't support Unicode and advanced formatting features. However, it makes working in these languages easy for the common man.
Balendu Sharma Dadhich, the developer of the software and managing editor, hindi news portal prabhasakshi.com, says, "Madhyam has been developed with the sole objective of promoting local languages in computing and it has received notable response from NRIs, office workers and students. More than 12,000 copies of the software have been downloaded last year by Indian languages enthusiasts. Considering the fact that even Indian language word processors launched by IT bigwigs have not seen such a great user response, it's certainly encouraging."
"I have got response from Indian language lovers from all over the world. What made me really excited, however, was an email I received from a professor in Pakistan. Similarly, a British lorry driver also contacted and thanked me for the software as he was finding it useful in learning Hindi. Such instances really touch you and give you a feeling of being useful to the society," said Dadhich.
"Most Indian language computer users come from middle and lower-middle income groups and are hardly in a position to spend money on word processing software such as MS Word and iLeap. Commercially marketed word processors are sold at prices between Rs 1,200 to 9,000; an amount they can't afford. For them, Madhyam becomes a software of choice," Dadhich further said.
The biggest challenge in this regard according to experts comes from the lack of technology-standardization in these languages. For instance, when working in Hindi, you will have to choose from at least 15 different keyboard layouts (such as Remington, Devanagari, Phonetics, Transliteration etc) and an even greater number of fonts that all work in different ways, unlike with English. Due to the lack of standardization, all software development companies design their own custom keyboard layouts and fonts, which are totally out-of-sync with their counterparts. A person using a particular word processor is generally unable to work on a competitor word processor, as both support different text input methods.
To overcome this problem, the Inscript (Indian Script) keyboard overlay was standardized by the Department of Electronics in 1986. Inscript remains the officially supported text input standard for Indian languages, and its use is now gaining momentum. According to Balendu, what makes this standard special is its "intelligent methodology for text input." It makes learning Hindi and typing in other Indian languages easier, as one doesn't need to memorize keyboard keys for each and every alphabet. You only learn to type half the number of characters (full characters), and the rest of the characters are generated by the text editor in a unique automated manner.
Dadhich says, "When you type a full character followed by a Halant character, the text is automatically transformed into a half character. Mixed complex characters (such as ksha, tra, gya etc) are also rendered in this way. Another significance of this standard is that it supports almost all the major Indian languages. This means, if you can type in Hindi, you can also type in Gujarati as the basic keys and text input methodology for the two languages is the same."
The standard needs to be supported by the IT community and end users, as this will ensure similarity of data input methods, re-use of data, would rule out data redundancy, make it easier to work in Indian languages and would boost computer literacy.
"Development of Madhyam is a step towards promoting use of Indian languages using this standard. Incidentally, Madhyam is the only free word processor of its kind that fully complies with the standard", says Dadhich.
He is presently working on the next version of the software, which would be a Unicode compliant one, and would provide major text formatting facilities like those offered by Microsoft Word. He also plans to provide transliteration (a way of typing Hindi in the way English is typed) facility to help people who cannot write in the Inscript or Remington way (especially NRIs). However, he remains a hardcore standardization supporter who emphasizes that every Indian language lover must learn to type in the language in its own, custom style.
The software is available for download at http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?website=tt&article_id=70874&cat_id=660
An example of how changing font changes original text in Hindi :
Tag keywords
Discussion Board
anwar
,hubli, on Jan 09, 2010 10:18 AM
Report abuse
Asif khan
,Lucknow, on Dec 13, 2009 09:43 PM
kistoorchand
,Mumbai, on Sep 28, 2009 01:09 AM
Amit Sharma
,Chd, on Sep 22, 2009 11:06 PM
ajay mishra
, indore, on Aug 17, 2009 12:16 PM
VINOD PURSWNI
,ULHASNAGER, on Sep 19, 2009 02:41 PM
Giriraj Kumar B
,Guwahati, on Jun 13, 2009 02:05 PM
bhanu gupta
,kolkata, on Jan 29, 2009 05:27 PM
K.NARAYANA PRAS
,HYDERABAD, on Jun 04, 2009 03:40 PM
radharaman
,vadodara, on May 17, 2009 01:24 PM
kanaram seervi
,jaipur, on Apr 09, 2009 09:43 AM
ramakantrajranj
,pune, on Mar 08, 2009 07:45 PM
ramakantrajranj
,pune, on Mar 08, 2009 02:24 PM
ramu
,mumbai, on Mar 05, 2009 06:16 PM
Anoj kumar sing
,delhi, on Feb 14, 2009 12:03 PM
ranjanzaidi
,ghaziabad,up,india, on Jan 26, 2009 02:39 PM
amit
,Haryana, on Jan 19, 2009 06:08 PM
devendra malviy
,indore, on Jan 09, 2009 08:12 PM
Pankaj thakur
,gwalior, on Dec 28, 2008 12:14 AM
ramniwas chalia
,new delhi, on Aug 26, 2008 04:18 PM
Jayant Vasani
,San Diego, California USA, on Dec 24, 2008 04:11 AM
jayant
,New Delhi, on Dec 20, 2008 09:40 PM
Dr. Tiwari
,Delhi, on Nov 30, 2008 12:22 AM
elish
,delhi, on Nov 29, 2008 12:23 AM
rakesh patil
,mumbai, on Nov 28, 2008 02:09 PM
vir
,new delhi, on Nov 10, 2008 05:32 PM
rao
,hyderabad, on Oct 08, 2008 04:50 PM
arpit gupta
,rampur, on Sep 30, 2008 12:38 AM
Birendra Sinha
,Asansol, on Sep 25, 2008 09:08 PM
avsrao
,Hyderabad, on Sep 24, 2008 11:22 AM
kamran
,mumbai, on Sep 23, 2008 03:16 PM
Bhaskar Sur
,Jaigaon, Jalpaiguri Dist. West Bengal, on Sep 20, 2008 09:47 PM
pintu
,West Bengal, on Sep 12, 2008 07:05 PM
Abrar
,Raigarh, on Sep 06, 2008 12:07 AM
Anilkumar Chola
,Calicut, on Sep 05, 2008 11:35 AM
Arvind Kumar Mi
,Bilashpur, on Aug 23, 2008 08:13 PM
rajendra
,jodhpur, on Aug 22, 2008 08:04 PM
deepa
,chandigarh, on Aug 11, 2008 07:33 PM
Ravi Chopra
,New Delhi, on Jul 25, 2008 06:48 PM
Shantaram Sadhw
,SAILU (PARBHANI) M.S. INDIA, on Nov 23, 2007 12:36 PM
Aashish jain
,Delhi, on Jul 19, 2008 04:16 PM
amit rattan
,karnal, on Jul 18, 2008 11:35 AM
shameem mujthab
,lakshadweep, on Jul 01, 2008 12:28 PM
Ashutosh Gaur
,Aligarh, on Jun 28, 2008 04:15 AM
Ranjit
,Jamshedpur, on Jun 21, 2008 02:18 PM
Jhabar Mal Maha
,Sikar, on Jun 17, 2008 01:09 PM
Jhabar Mal Maha
,Sikar, on Jun 17, 2008 01:02 PM
vivek jha
,shivpuri m.p., on Jun 16, 2008 06:42 PM
vandana sharma
,Bhilai, on Jun 14, 2008 09:48 PM
K.S.Mallikarjun
,BELLARY, on Jun 01, 2008 11:59 AM
aishwarya
,delhi, on May 11, 2008 12:02 PM
dilip jaiswal
,new delhi, on Apr 14, 2008 01:15 PM
Tarun
,gurgaon, on Mar 08, 2008 02:20 AM
subhah kumar
,delhi, on Feb 29, 2008 08:17 AM
chandru
,chennai, on Mar 30, 2007 10:44 AM
haripirya
,visakhapatnam, on Jun 08, 2007 11:29 AM
kishore
,Hyderabad, on Feb 27, 2008 12:06 PM
jayan
,chennai, on Feb 19, 2008 12:02 PM
omprakash
,jaipur, on Sep 02, 2007 07:26 AM
naresh kumar
,new delhi, on Feb 05, 2008 10:13 AM
alpesh
,ahmedabad, on Jan 29, 2008 06:38 PM
Bhushan
,Mumbai, on Jan 25, 2008 12:52 PM
Vipul Rastogi
,New Delhi, on Dec 29, 2007 09:37 AM
Dr U B Pavanaja
,Bangalore, on Jan 25, 2006 05:08 PM
Umesh Soni
,Jaipur, on Nov 22, 2007 07:22 PM
Manohar
,Faridabad, on Nov 17, 2007 02:57 PM
Pragna
,Mumbai, on Oct 28, 2007 12:06 AM
usha
,mangalore, on Oct 26, 2007 04:52 PM
Joshua
,Tamil Nadu, on Oct 19, 2007 11:27 AM
kamlesh
,Bhopal, on Oct 17, 2007 07:47 AM
kamlesh
,Bhopal, on Oct 17, 2007 07:46 AM
pankaj kumar
,ranchi, on Jul 11, 2007 03:58 PM
Anshul Goyal
,Dehradun, on Sep 13, 2007 11:04 AM
Anshul Goyal
,Dehradun, on Sep 13, 2007 11:03 AM
anuraag
,Delhi, on May 05, 2007 06:01 AM
samadtrading
,mumbai, on Aug 30, 2007 03:10 PM
anuj Kumar
,new delhi, on Aug 21, 2007 09:36 PM
krishna
,agra, on Aug 02, 2007 11:58 AM
komal
,new delhi, on Jul 31, 2007 12:33 PM
pradeep sahare
,ahmedabad, on Jun 26, 2007 05:37 PM
Hemant Kumar Go
,Meerut, on Jun 25, 2007 04:01 PM
Madan Nandi
,Kolkata, on Jun 14, 2007 12:47 PM
Shubhankar ghos
,Indore, on Jun 04, 2007 03:30 PM
Harishankar M Y
,Lucknow, on Jun 01, 2007 12:15 PM
chandan kumar s
,raiganj, on May 31, 2007 12:45 PM
praveen negi
,delhi, on May 28, 2007 12:25 PM
pratima
,warangal, on May 08, 2007 03:50 PM
abdul
,delhi, on Apr 25, 2007 10:02 AM
Ashim Chakravor
,Bhilai (C.G.), on Mar 05, 2007 10:47 PM
Vipul Rastogi
,New Delhi, on Mar 22, 2007 01:15 AM
sonique mp3
,kiev, on Dec 28, 2006 03:05 PM
Ram ROOP
,sURREY cANADA, on Dec 24, 2006 12:35 AM
