UYIP
The Mailing List for
Understanding Yiddish Information Processing

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Guides

Software that Supports Yiddish

Windows

Macintosh

Useful Links:

It should first of all be noted that people have been using Macintoshes for Yiddish since at least the late 1980's.

Some Mac OS (X) Background. You can think of there being either one or two different Macintosh Operating Systems (OS's): Mac OS and Mac OS X. Mac OS stopped at version 9, and Mac OS X started at version 10. However, Mac OS X was from the beginning an entirely different operating system, and to the extent that it has taken on features of the older Mac OS, this is largely due to some or all of a combination of layering, porting, adaptation, emulation.

The software at the core of Yiddish, and multilingual, support generally on Mac OS (i.e., Mac OS 9.x and earlier) was Worldscript.

Unfortunately, this section is badly in need of an update for Mac OS X. The rest of this section pertains Mac OS (9).

At first, there were unofficial means of support, proprietary fonts, custom keyboards, etc. Then, around 1994, Apple delivered the Hebrew Language Kit, and proclaimed that it would officially support Yiddish thereby. They have been doing so. There are many users who use this system successfully on a daily basis, and many have been doing so for years.

Still, serious Yiddish users have found it necessary or desirable to use unsupported extensions to the built-in Hebrew script support for the following main reasons:

  1. Keyboarding - the need to type in all Yiddish combinations with a single keystroke, which cannot be done using the MacOS Hebrew character set;
  2. fine diacritic (nikud) placement - the need to have pasekh, komets, etc., placed perfectly with respect to the base Hebrew letters, rather than "approximately" in the right place, which is very easily accomplished for the 11 combinations used in Yiddish by having precomposed characters, which characters don't fit into the MacOS Hebrew character set

With MacOS 9, Apple began to include full Hebrew Language Kit.

However, ... there are important technical problems with using them, and some historical information you might want or need to know. Thanks to Nisus Software for providing Support and Insights on Language Kits: http://www.nisus.com/Products/NisusWriter/Support/Tips/languagekitsOS9.asp

Already with MacOS 8.5, Apple began to provide most of the Hebrew Language Kit functionality. Mac OS 8.5: Multilingual Internet Access, included as a custom installation option with MacOS 8.5, provides Yiddish/Hebrew text handing. This provides almost all of the operating system support that could only be obtained via Hebrew Language Kit in releases MacOS prior to version 8.5.) There is some extra functionality in Hebrew Language Kit, which can be used in MacOS 8.5 by installing the Language Kit Updater, also included with MacOS 8.5.

ICab Internet Browser Web Browser (MacOS + Multilingual Internet Access or Hebrew Language Kit) - You can select Mac Hebrew as the encoding, and select a Mac Hebrew font as the font for this encoding. You need to have Multilingual Internet Access (MacOS 8.5+) or Mac Hebrew Language Kit installed. MacOS Hebrew-encoded web pages will display correctly, although they will not be right-aligned, and interactive selection via dragging the mouse does not work in the proper direction. Note, too, that this is a Beta version of the program.

CTM Development: Powermail E-Mail Client (MacOS + Multilingual Internet Access or Hebrew Language Kit)

- Lets you enter Yiddish text (mixed with English if desired), and offers as a configuration option to have the encoding for Hebrew be Unicode (i.e., UTF-8). The text formatting is extremely simple -- right justification isn't possible, for example -- but it does the job. The message, however, can only be read back at present using the same program on a Mac. If other MacOS E-Mail clients become Worldscript-I compliant, they will most likely be able to show the text properly as well. Unfortunately, MacOS Hebrew characters are translated into compatibilty zone Unicode, as opposed to canonical Unicode, and in general, non-MacOS E-Mail clients that do handle UTF-8 Hebrew (e.g., MS Outlook, Hebrew version) normally do not handle compatibility zone characters. That is a pity because if it used canonical Unicode, it would probably close the loop for Mac-User-to-Windows-User E-Mail. Still, this is a promising product, and may be very useful for those wishing to send mail with Yiddish text. A free, downloadable demo version of the product is available from the company web site: http://www.ctmdev.com/

Nisus: Nisus Writer Word Processor (MacOS + Multilingual Internet Access or Hebrew Language Kit) - Not as well-known as Word or WordPerfect, but this is a well-respected word processor used by many Mac users for years. It is especially well-liked by many professional writers. See Nisus's Hebrew Editing page.

Apple: Stickies Text Editor for short texts (MacOS + Multilingual Internet Access or Hebrew Language Kit) - included with the Macintosh OS since version 7.5

Apple: MacOS + Multilingual Internet Access or Hebrew Language Kit OS plus Add-on that lets MacOS support the input, formatting, and display of Yiddish for applications that support a technology called "Worldscript". A proprietary character set, called MacOS Hebrew, is used for the text. Four Yiddish-capable TrueType fonts are supplied.

Unfortunately, many major applications do not support Worldscript, and therefore do not support Hebrew or Yiddish in the MacOS+Hebrew-Language-Kit environment.

For example, Microsoft Word doesn't support Worldscript, and Corel's Word Perfect does not support it fully. (The Nisus product is well regarded as a word processor, and does support Worldscript fully; see above.) Apple's Hebrew Language Kit web page has some mention of some applications supporting Worldscript for Hebrew, but it is years out of date. (For example, the Worldwrite product seems no longer to be marketed. It's not clear if the company exists; there is a WorldSoft web site has been abandoned.)

UYIP List members have found the situation with Worldscript is a little hard to understand. Apple's Peter Edberg (pedberg@apple.com) was kind enough to clarify Worldscript in an e-letter to UYIP mailing list subscribers as follows: 


	Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 11:08:23 -0700
	To: uyip@world.std.com
	From: Peter Edberg 
	Subject: Re: Wordperfect/Mac 3.5 and Worldscript for Hebrew text
	
	"WorldScript support" is actually divided into support for WorldScript II
	(mixed 1-byte and 2-byte encodings, used for Japanese, Chinese, Korean),
	and support for WorldScript I (bidirectional and contextual scripts such as
	Ararbic, Hebrew, Thai, and Indic).
	
	The English versions of several applications support WorldScript II but not
	WorldScript I. These include WordPerfect and ClarisWorks.
		
	English applications that do support WorldScript I (and WorldScript II)
	include NisusWriter, WorldWrite, WinText (as well as HyperCard and
	SimpleText). Additional English applications can use the Hebrew Language
	Kit via QuickDraw GX: Ready,Set,Go!, LightningDraw GX. Finally, Hebrew
	localized versions of various applications can work with the Hebrew
	language kit (in this case the user interface is in Hebrew): ClarisWorks
	HB, FileMaker HB, PageMaker ME, etc.
		
	This information is available at
	.
	
	Peter Edberg
	International, Text, and Graphics group
	Apple Computer, Inc.

Apple's international text strategy appears to be in transition at this time; there have been announcements of future Unicode support in developers' circles, but the story is still emerging. We look forward to further public comment by Apple on this topic.

MacOS 8.5 Update! 

	From: Peter Edberg 
	Subject: Re: Mac OS 8.5 keyboard support (was Unicode in browsers)
	Reply-To: uyip@world.std.com
	
	At 10:53 AM -0700 9/15/98, Mark H. David wrote:
	>Also, the other major standing requirement for MacOS is the ability to have
	>more than one characters inserted for a single keystroke.  This will permit
	>all Yiddish combinations to be single keystrokes, which many/most users
	>greatly desire for working with Yiddish.  Some version of MacOS (e.g., for
	>India) have had this capability; does MacOS 8.5?
	
	Yes, Mac OS 8.5 supports a new keyboard layout resource type 'uchr' for
	Unicode keyboard layouts. This support multiple dead keys, supports
	multiple characters out from a single keypress, etc. 'uchr' resources with
	IDs > 0 generate Unicode that is within the repertoire of the classic Mac
	OS encoding determined from the resource ID ('uchr' resources with an ID
	that matches a 'KCHR' ID should match the behavior of that 'KCHR'). Unicode
	output from such keyboards will be converted to the Mac OS encoding for
	delivery to an application that expects Mac OS encodings. However, Mac OS
	8.5 also supports a new type of TSM document for Unicode input; TSM-savvy
	applications that create such a TSM document will receive all of their
	input in Unicode (input from 'KCHR' resources will be converted to
	Unicode). 'uchr' resources with IDs < 0 can generate Unicode output that is
	outside the repertoire of any exiting Mac OS encoding; such 'uchr'
	resources will only be enabled when Unicode-input TSM documents are active.

General Yiddish Information Processing Resources

Yiddish Documents

Here are some documents in Yiddish and English to accompany the UYIP mailing list.

Kinds of documents currently supplied are:



  1. MacOS Hebrew Plain Text - These documents are encoded using the MacOS Hebrew character set. In order to view them, you need to use Netscape on the Macintosh, set document encoding to User-defined, go to General Preferences, choose the fonts preferences dialog, choose user-defined under "for the encoding", then choose one of the fonts included in the Apple Hebrew Language Kit, e.g., corsiva, new peninim, etc. Refer to ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/HEBREW.TXT for the set of characters in MacOS Hebrew, along with a mapping for each character in Unicode designed to achieve 100% roundtrip compatibility. (Note: this method is generally not suitable for creating usable Unicode documents, i.e., one-way mapping.)

    Note: make sure to choose a font encoded according to the Macintosh Hebrew character set in its entirety -- many/most Hebrew fonts for the Mac don't comply: in particular, they do not properly encode the double-yod with patah ("pasekh-tsvey-yudn") or rafe ("dekhele") characters. All of the fonts shipped by Apple with the Hebrew Language Kit are fine.



  2. Windows Hebrew Plain Text - These documents are encoded using the Windows Hebrew character set (also known as Code Page 1255, or CP1255). There are currently few browsers that properly display Yiddish. Stay tuned. Refer to ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/MICSFT/WINDOWS/CP1255.TXT for the set of characters in Windows Hebrew, along with a mapping for each character in Unicode designed to achieve 100% roundtrip compatibility. (Note: Windows 1255 maps quite well to Unicode, especially for Yiddish. There is practically a one-to-one correspondence between their Hebrew characters, including those used for Yiddish.)



  3. GIF Files - standard Compuserve and Web image file format. Viewable on Netscape and just about any other kind of browser. Binary data, not text of any kind. (However, in most cases, these just illustrate the way text is supposed to look; i.e., these provide a "picture" of text.)

  4. Unicode HTML files - Web text pages encoded in Unicode, primarily in the Unicode Hebrew block (Range 0590..05FF). The text is in HTML, that is, some version along the lines of the latest emerging Internet standards, namely the proposal for Internationalization of HTML, which is incorporated into the W3C's HTML 4.0 specification. Yiddish Unicode HTML files should be viewable with any web browser that supports all of the Hebrew characters of Unicode version 1.1 or later. Get one of the available Yiddish-capable web browsers to view a page in Unicode HTML files.

  5. Miscellaneous HTML files - presumably containing no special or interesting encodings, and viewable with any old graphic Web browser -- may have links to other, more interesting documents.
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Unless otherwise noted, this document and all documents at this site Copyright (c) 2003 - 2005 Mark H. David (E-Mail: mhd at yv.org), All Rights Reserved.