(Hi John: Thanks for posting the file and the warning to the group about
your problems using the Times_Norman font. Could you send me off-list more
info about your troubles with the Times_Norman font?)
Palitrans 2.0 is now available in the Files section of the group. The zipped
file is only 250Kb.
Palitrans is free, and for free distribution. It runs under Windows 95 or
better. It does not run on Chinese Windows 2000 computers.
The zip file includes:
a) the software program
b) a very short "QuickStart Tutorial"
c) a ready-to-go "custom transliteration table" ("Western 12.txt")
A person who uses more than one language on their computer may also find
Palitrans helpful - even if they are *not* studying Pali. This could be a
student, a teacher, or even a businessperson. I know of at least one person
in Germany that is using Palitrans to enter French language texts. Other
possibilities might be: A student of Spanish in the USA, or a businessperson
writing French in Canada.
A Pali person may enjoy the special, "built-in" Pali features.
Short Overview of Pali Special Features
1. The "Ultimate Grammar Checker". This is just a button on the toolbar that
pops up some help text about Right Speech. :-)
2. Pali transliteration in 5 Pali fonts. In other words, you choose a Pali
font. Then you type using the standard transliteration style. As you type
the characters are converted to the correct Pali characters in that font.
NOTE: so that you can type "n as a real quote (example: "now is the right
time") you need to use !n or nnn to get the overdot-n character.
3. In-place font conversion. You select some Pali text in a Pali font,
choose a new Pali font, and the font is converted.
4. Handy "Copy and Paste" from the CSCD. Palitrans will clean out most of
the extra return characters and other formatting codes. This means that you
get a "clean text" to work with. You can:
- select the text of the CSCD with your mouse
- press "Ctrl-C" to copy the text to the clipboard, and
- use a special button "Paste from CSCD" to paste the text into Palitrans.
5. This next feature can be used in many ways. You may find it handy for
email work.
You can "Copy and Paste" text from an email that uses standard
transliteration, select the text, and convert it to a Pali font.
Also: you can create an email message in a Pali font, select the text, and
convert it to standard transliteration, and then "Copy and Paste it into an
email.
Last but not least: if you "Copy and Paste" a quote from the Pali Canon into
Palitrans using the "Paste from CSCD" feature, you can convert the entire
quote to standard transliteration style for inclusion into an email message.
This may help people who need to include a longer Pali quote into their
email messages.
This message was created using Palitrans.
(Thanks to everyone who helped test Palitrans! Please download the latest
version.)
If you wish to forward this email, you have my permission.
sotthi!
from
Andy
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