U-TRANS

This is a crude little program for those who want to display Urdu pages on the web.

This program is inspired by Avinash Chopde's now famous ITRANS package.
What it does is quite simple, and is as follows. If you want to display text in Urdu, you have to use some Urdu font. There are many available on the Net, like Umair, Alkatib etc. I have chosen Khat-e-Naqsh , because it does not use the characters which have problems in Unix (I am a Linux user :-) If you prefer the Nastalique style script, have a look at the Nastalique version of this font Khat-e-Naqsh Nastalique.
You can write a u-trans file, which will be almost exactly like your HTML file, and use either the font tag or Style Sheet for specifying the Urdu font. When you enter the text, start with a line containing only the word "#beginurdu". Then enter the text in ArabTeX code, which is reasonably phonetic. For example, you would write, "mae.n urdU mE.n likhnA pasand kartA ,hU.n". ArabTeX coding is very simple, and easy to learn. End the text with a line containing the word "#endurdu". This can be repeated many times in a page and wherever required, even inside a table caption.
When this file is run through U-TRANS, it produces an HTML file which has all the HTML code which you put in as it is, except that the coded text is replaced by Urdu font characters.
Now if you have Khat-e-Naqsh loaded on your computer, Netscape will display this webpage in Urdu script.
Advantages:
- One advantage is that if you are familiar with ArabTeX transliteration code, you can just write an HTML file as usual complete with images, tables and alignment, without taking any special precaution for writing Urdu text.
- Most webusers are familiar with english, and would find editing an Urdu page with transliteration code, much simpler than using a WYSIWYG editor where one has to learn key associations.
Why do I call this program crude? Well, seasoned programmers will faint on hearing that this program was written in FORTRAN!!
Also, it only just manages to do the job - although it can be made much better with some effort, I have been too lazy to do it. Maybe I will do it later.
Why is it called U-TRANS instead of UTRANS? Because there already exists a program by the name UTRANS, which has nothing to do with Urdu.
How to use it
Write a U-TRANS file as explained above. Look at the following example
```
<HTML>
<HEAD> </HEAD>
<BODY>
This is my first Urdu web page. <P>
<div align=right>
<font face="Urdu Naqsh Nastalique" size=+4>
#beginurdu
mae.n urdU mE.n likhnA pasand kartI ,hU.n
#endurdu
</font> </div>
<P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
```
Let this file be example.utx. Now give the following command on your shell prompt, in the directory containing U-TRANS files:
u-trans < example.utx > example.html
This HTML file, when displayed in Netscape will look like the following:
Things to be noted:
- No HTML tags are allowed within #beginurdu and #endurdu
- Lines will be broken when the line of the input code is broken.
- You have to right align the Urdu text yourself.
- As Urdu is written from right to left, your text lines should be small, so that there is no chance of them wrapping round the end. That will mess up the Urdu text.
Where to get this program?
- H E R E ! (This is a 60kB zip file which contains a DOS executable in addition to the source code and support files, including the Khat-e-Naqsh font.)
- and H E R E ! (This is a 60kB gzipped tar file which contains a Linux (PC) executable, in addition to the source code and support files, including the Khat-e-Naqsh font.)
- Do not know ArabTeX coding? Read this page.
- Do not have Khat-e-Naqsh font? Get the nastalique version of the TrueType font Khat-e-Naqsh HERE.
Khat-e-Naqsh Font
Khat-e-Naqsh Natalique ArabTeX Home Page Nastalique

Tabish Qureshi
Department of Physics
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-110025, INDIA.
tabish@arbornet.org
Last modified on Mon Jun 5 14:00:44 IST 2000