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Features of Nitartha-Sambhota 2.0
Word Processing Program Compatibility.
Nitartha-Sambhota
2.0 is designed for Microsoft Word for Windows 6,
and later (also known as Word 97, 2000,
and XP, including Office 2000 and 2003 versions)
and runs under the Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0,
Windows Millenium, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating
systems. The packages for each include a Tibetan
keyboard making it easy to enter Tibetan characters.1.
Fonts.
The Nitartha-Sambhota package allows you to print texts using exceptionally high quality Tibetan and Tibetan-Sanskrit
TrueType and Postscript fonts. The fonts were designed carefully by skilled Tibetan calligraphers and incorporate a number of innovations. Multiple shapkyus have been custom designed to fit various main letters
and character stacks precisely. In a number of cases, multiple main letters have been designed to prevent shapkyus from overprinting characters on the next line. For example, main letters with "long
legs" such as ka, ga and so forth have both long and short versions. The Sanskrit version of the package contains approximately 800 customized character stacks allowing the user
to print mantras that are typically found in sadhanas and other liturgies. Some of the widely used character stacks such as hum, bhyo, bhrum and so forth have been custom designed for better appearance.
Tibetan Software and Fonts for the PC and Mac, that will display on the Web
Nitartha has released our new Tibetan fonts and as an optional add-on provides a new converter program, which will convert text
files containing Wylie or Asian Classics transliteration to Rich Text Files containing Tibetan script. These Rich Text files can be read by Microsoft Word and can then be formatted and printed. By using
tools such as Adobe Acrobat Writer 4.0, documents containing Tibetan text can be produced for emailing or posting on the web. Documents containing the new Tibetan fonts are easily
transportable between the Mac and PC. No additional conversion or special procedures are necessary. Also, documents produced using Nitartha-Sambhota 2.0 on the PC can be transported to the Mac and vice-versa.
Interface.
The Nitartha-Sambhota interface allows you to easily switch from Tibetan to English keyboards and provides a stacking mechanism, described below. We have tested and used this interface under
Microsoft Word versions 6, 95, 97 and 2000 (versions 6-9) running on Windows 95, 98, Windows NT 4.0. and Windows 2000. The keyboard interface can be turned on and off using the Templates
and Add-ins option in Word. The interface itself consists of buttons for Tibetan and English as well as buttons to set the default Tibetan and English fonts and point sizes. In addition to the standard interface, we provide an optional package that allows input of Tibetan using a Wylie keyboard. NOTE: Microsoft
Word 2000 and XP is fully compliant with Nitartha-Sambhota
2.0, but contains a security feature which will
disable the program if not properly set.
See our FAQ on setting Word 2000 and XP to work with Nitartha-Sambhota 2.0.
Character Stacking.
The keyboard provides a special stacking key making the entry of
Tibetan character stacks straightforward. Simply type the stack key and then type the character stack from top to bottom ending with the vowel. This alleviates you from having to remember
hundreds of different key combinations for different stacks. Export capability.
Nitartha-Sambhota 2.0 provides unparalleled export capability for use of documents in other programs. Once a Tibetan document is
created in Word, it can be exported to Pagemaker, Quark Express and other word processors or page layout programs for further formatting.
Installation and printer support.
The installation for Word is quite straightforward -- once the fonts
are installed, simply open a special file in Word to activate the keyboard interface. The Nitartha-Sambhota fonts and ancillary software require less than one megabyte of disk space. The
TrueType fonts included in the package will typically print on any printer supported by Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 and above whereas the Postscript fonts require a Postscript printer. Making the ACIP Library of Tibetan texts available in their native format.
We offer an Asian Classics to Nitartha-Sambhota conversion package, that will allow users to print the popular Asian Classics Input Project ("ACIP") texts using the Nitartha-Sambhota fonts on
either the PC or on the Macintosh. Users can print Asian Classics texts from the latest ACIP CD-ROM as well as type their own texts in Asian Classics format and then print them. More information on
using Nitartha-Sambhota with ACIP texts is available here. Given an ACIP input file, the Asian Classics to Nitartha-Sambhota conversion software will create a RTF (Rich Text Format) file that
can be read by most of popular word processing and text layout programs on the Mac such as Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or Pagemaker and on the PC, Microsoft Word for Windows, Pagemaker and Quark Express.
One should note that the new keyboard interface to Word and the Asian Classics conversion software work in harmony with each other once the underlying Tibetan text is in Word. In conjunction
with the Asian Classics converter, we offer a Wylie to Nitartha-Sambhota converter so that users of Wylie transliteration can also print out their texts in the Nitartha-Sambhota fonts.
For more information on the Asian Classics library, please contact ACIP. Please note that at this time the WordPerfect Sambhota
package on the PC and the Asian Classics package on the PC cannot share files.
 Tibetan Pechas
Note that the fonts have been structured so that Tibetan files created using MS
Word on the Mac can be exported to MS Word for Windows and vice versa. Tibetan files can also be exported from Word to Quark Express or Pagemaker for high quality desktop publishing of
pechas, and the like on both platforms.
Mac Support
For Mac users, we make available Nitartha-Sambhota Converter
for the Mac, which allows Mac users to work with Tibetan documents in the native Mac environment. Click here for further details.
Please feel free to contact Robert Fors if you require further information. New in 2.0
___________________1 Please note that the Tibetan keyboard interfaces to Microsoft Word have been implemented using the English keyboard. If you
are using a version of Word for Windows other than the English edition, please contact Robert Fors for more information on program compatibility. |
