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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Arabic Language Setting

hotazntea - Nov 20, 2005 - 3:56 pm

i set the language in the international setting to arabic. i also downloaded multiple arabic fonts. yet when i go to type it in my adobe illustrator all i get are question marks. i dont understand why its so hard on a mac to set a language. i dont encounter these problems on a pc. what am i doing wrong?

cavaughan - Nov 22, 2005 - 7:51 pm

I'm not sure that this is an OSX issue, but more an Adobe Illustrator issue. I have had similar problems with Russian and it sounds like a Code page issue. It has nothing necessarily to do with fonts.

You need to find out exactly what kind of a Code Page Adobe is using for Illustrator. Are you sure Adobe is in Arabic?

I would look to Adobe Illustrator mailing lists/tech support for answers. If Illustrator is provided in arabic on OSX then they must know how to configure OSX to support it.

Sorry, but that's about all I can suggest right now.

--------
Curtis Vaughan
cavaughan@gmail.com

hotazntea - Nov 22, 2005 - 9:21 pm

thank you, it was all i needed. just some damn guidance.

hotazntea - Nov 22, 2005 - 9:21 pm

thank you, it was all i needed. just some damn guidance.

cavaughan - Nov 22, 2005 - 11:07 pm

Oy vey! I was just trying to point you in the right direction!

--------
Curtis Vaughan
cavaughan@gmail.com

cavaughan - Nov 23, 2005 - 1:28 pm

Check out:

http://www.parniansoft.com/local/en/parillustrate.php
http://www.layoutltd.com/kalimatx.asp
http://www.fontworld.com/mepdf/ILMEcs11.pdf
http://www.softskill.ae/www/products...rabix_pro.html
--------
Curtis Vaughan
cavaughan@gmail.com

cavaughan - Nov 23, 2005 - 1:31 pm

I also went to Adobe support and found this message:

Garret,

Just to add to Thomas's comments: while it's probably true that Adobe has never reduced language support from one version of Illustrator to another, but the English versions of Illustrator have never supported Arabic, at least as far back as Illustrator 7.

Middle Eastern versions of Adobe applications are made and supported by Winsoft, which may be where your Illustrator 10 came from.

L.


So, if I may ask what language version of Illustrator are you using?
--------
Curtis Vaughan
cavaughan@gmail.com

hotazntea - Nov 23, 2005 - 1:52 pm

im using the english version..LOL (all of my adobe software is CS2) but i would like to type in arabic. i know that adobe makes an arabic version but i dont speak or write arabic. and i know that even microsoft word doesnt even read arabic correctly, this is why im so puzzled with MAC. windows reads arabic with ease. so do u see my frustration.

also there is two arabic language selection on international language preference-(arabic)(arabic qwarty)wat is the difference?

i want to thank you for your help, sorry i didnt mean to sound mad. you are the first to reply with any response.

cavaughan - Nov 23, 2005 - 2:33 pm

Let's start backwards with your questions.

My understanding of Arabic and Arabic QWERTY has to do with the keyboard. Arabic would mean that the keyboard is set up as it would be in an arab country. Arabic QWERTY means that the keyboard is set up such that the location of A on your keyboard is the location for the Arabic equivalent, S = Arabic S, D = Arabic D, etc. It would be for someone like you maybe who doesn't know the arabic keyboard and doesn't want to learn a new keyboard. Does that make sense?

Let me ask another question. Can you type in arabic in any application?
Let's say you can type in Arabic in TextEdit. If you take the question marks that appear in Illustrator and copy them over to TextEdit is it still question marks? What about visa versa: type something in Arabic in TextEdit and copy it over to Illustrator.

Whereas Arabic types from right to left, have you turned on such functionality?

Since I don't have Illustrator I can't really test any of my suggestions.

--------
Curtis Vaughan
cavaughan@gmail.com

hotazntea - Dec 21, 2005 - 1:14 am

sorry for the late response completely forgot. yes i understand qwerty now. thanks .
yes i can actually type in arabic . thats not the problem. the fonts dont show up correctly. for example. there is a difference in the english language when you print and write in cursive. this is the problem that is occuring. even though the font is cursive and in arabic its not showing the cursive (connection of letters). i have the same problem with microsoft word and text edit. its the cursive problem.
i hope this helps

cavaughan - Dec 21, 2005 - 6:50 pm

So my understanding is this. You can type in Arabic and the letters show up. The only problem is that the letters don't connect together. There's a space between letters that should be connected.

For example instead of for example writing: this is a test
You get something like: t h i s i s a t e s t

Which makes it difficult to read. Is that right?

Another question I might ask is are there different fonts in arabic to choose from? Like is there the equivalent say of Arial, Courier, Times, etc. Totally different fonts. Have tried all of them?

Have you tried installing additional Arabic fonts?

If you have .ttf arabic fonts (maybe on a Windows computer) I believe you can copy them over to /Library/Fonts and find that they work as well.

Good luck!

hotazntea - Dec 22, 2005 - 12:13 am

not that kind of space but just like the difference between cursive and print but there is no such thing as print in arabic. but i guess your example is similar. but heres the low down. its not a mac problem i found out. cus the cursive is produced through text edit. the arabic is able to be typed on adobe illustrator etc.. but not in cursive. so i guess its a software problem. and i checked the system prefernce for language in adobe but there is no arabic setting at all. and adobe wants to charge an annual fee for support. they are nuts!!!! so i guess i have to buy a language kit which is just as expensive. do you have any suggestions on something cheaper and faster to accomplish???

thanks for your help!

cavaughan - Dec 22, 2005 - 12:19 am

What do you use illustrator for? Would scribus or inkscape do the same job?

Curtis

hotazntea - Dec 22, 2005 - 12:22 am

i use illustrator, photoshop, indesign for graphic design purposes. but as of right now im using arabic for a newsletter for the mosque. i need to copy and paste what the arabic speakers type into my computer to produce the documents.

there is not point for me to use inkscape or scribus cus i dont know what they are.

cavaughan - Dec 22, 2005 - 12:39 am

but if i understand right, I guess you are producing some sort of newsletter or paper. Then Scribus is exactly what you want It's open source. Get it at:

http://aqua.scribus.net/

hotazntea - Dec 22, 2005 - 1:05 am

well i downloaded everything but how do i download the ghostscript they suggested. its not in any of the files. other than that the program wont resond. it wont open. great.

cavaughan - Dec 22, 2005 - 1:30 am

Trying to remember how to do this.

You download not just Scribus, but also Libraries A and B and FontConfig.

So you copy Scribus.app to /Applications, right?

Then everything in the libraries and fontconfig you copy over to /Library/Frameworks
This should include:
* Qt.framework
* Freetype.framework
* Fontconfig2.framework
* libart.framework
* libexpat.framework
* libjpeg.framework
* liblcms.framework
* libpng.framework
* libtiff.framework

There should be no additional folders created under /Library/Frameworks

Ghostscript is available in the Older Downloads section of the same page.

I know it works cause I use it. I've been using Scribus though for years. It's an excellent Pagemaker substitute.

Curtis

hotazntea - Dec 22, 2005 - 12:58 pm

i followed instructions correctly but this is completely useless. i still have to use adobe, you can not compare their abilities to scripture. i dont just use indesign but all of their software. i need the language to be enabled to all adobe. but like i said, i looked at their language preference and arabic is not an option, thought they have the thousand letters of chinese..which makes me puzzle when arabic is 26 letters.

cavaughan - Dec 22, 2005 - 1:27 pm

I used Scribus to create a pdf file with arabic. I have no idea what the text says or whether the letters look right. I copied the text from Al Jazeera. I can send it to you and you tell me whether that is what you wanted to do. I just need an email address to send it to.

hotazntea - Dec 22, 2005 - 2:09 pm

well that defeats the purpose because i need the file in vector such as .eps which illustrator provides. send it to pchhim@gmail.com