Blogger Template for Urdu blogs
I have modified a pre-made template from blogger to be used for Urdu only blogs. There are some difficulties here, like I don’t know how to change the date header and make it display day and date in Urdu. Also I am a little worried about font size, line height, etc. Please have a look at this Template. You can look at the blog here. Please let me know what you guys think of it. I think we should discuss and set minimum requirements for the templates we are going to offer in future. Like what font we should use for Urdu, font size, line heights, comments, forms, textareas and other things. Also I think that we should discuss the Urdu terms we are going to use for the words like archives, posts, entries, posted by, posted in, categories, feeds, form feilds, etc. It is important because if we are going to offer templates for popular blogging tools then we should make sure that our templates use the same words. We can also use these words on our own blogs to make them even more popular.
February 13th, 2005 at 10:54 am
I just spent some frustrating hours too and this is what you can see:
http://www.eomag.com/ej/urdu/ The structure and Coding is same of course and I just wanted to come up with more options in design so it’s easier to change whatever needs to be changed. still have to write a tutorial to customise it for practical use of a normal person. But you can see whatever has been done.
February 15th, 2005 at 4:23 am
Danial: I am in the same boat regarding Wordpress 1.5. I don’t know what to offer in the theme. One thing that troubles me the most in offering something for Urdu audience is to differentiate between the following two:
1. Is it a localization that I am targetting?
2. Or is it an Urdu support inside an English software that I am providing?
Localization requires everything to be translated into Urdu wherefrom we get to the point of standardized translation of blogging terms, as you indicated. And in this case we never have to worry about handling of English content.
In the second case, which I tend to offer in Wordpress, the task gets difficult if everything like post_title, post_content, commment section, feedback, meta_section has to be offered in two formats AS WELL AS two languages. In this case, which I call bilingual (instead of localization), I am getting to a point where I feel, we can leave things like “Comments”, “Archives”, “Calendar”, “Login”, etc. to stay in English. In Localized versions, however, everything needs to be translated as that would be more coherent.
Regarding the consensus on translations, I will make a page in UrduWiki where we can discuss them.
February 15th, 2005 at 11:55 am
Dear Asif
In my opinion you are providing Urdu support for an English software which I think is more important. The other goal i.e. internationalization is more difficult to achieve, has a much broader scrope and is not always necessary. One example is the way you provided Urdu support for the UrduWiki. We do not really need Urdu captions all over telling us what to do, although it won’t harm. The same should hold for phpBB. I have added a link in UrduWiki about a forum (Urdu Nation Baat Cheet) which is actually using unicode Urdu. I think it would be nice if we could also start a unicode Urdu based forum without the hassle of actually completely localizing it. Our friend Qadeer is busy doing it anyway. We can use his work once he is finished.
After all, when we install Urdu fonts on our computer and setup phonetic keyboard layouts, we are not actually changing the menu captions of windows. We do not need Urdu windows or Urdu MS Office to actually use Urdu.
Regards,
Nabeel
February 15th, 2005 at 4:53 pm
I think that for the wordpress we can move on by translating every thing that appears on the browser screen. I checked the page you have made for this task and I think we should fill it up before moving a head. We can make a standard set of words, phrases and terminalogies and could use them in our templates, localized software, tutorials, etc. Doing so we would be able to make more and more people using the same words we have used and it will also provide a popular set of “terminalogies” to other developers in future.
Localization is not a difficult task Nabeel. Most open source software offer a file which needs to be translated. In wordpress’s case we have a .mo file available for download from wordpress codex. We need to send this file translated in urdu along with document direction and other set of instructions to the localization team of wordpress. I am sure other open source software use the same policy and if they don’t then we can make our own .mo file and get it translated.
We don’t need Urdu for every thing because we have learned to live with English. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t like to see a version of Windows where Start menu appears on right and have every thing visible in Urdu? I am very much confident that such a software would sell like hotcakes in Pakistan and I am sure people wouldn’t mind paying a few thousand rupees for such a wonderful thing. People in Pakistan love to do their daily business in Urdu. Like we have all our ledgers, reciepts and every thing printed in Urdu at our small factory because my uncle feels comfortable that way. An Urdu Windows, MS-Word or even Internet Explorer would make computing more easy for thousands of Pakistanis who already have well established businesses but have no solution to do their daily work in their prefered language.
February 16th, 2005 at 6:51 am
Dear Danial
You are absolutely right. I never said that localization is conceptually difficult. I still think it is time consuming and it can be deferred in favor of customizations that allow Urdu to be used in a software. Localization is something that I would consider as a longer term strategy. Our English education is a mixed blessing. Any average student is more or less fluent in English. On the other hand we ignore the importance of Urdu as our national language and as our cultural heritage. Our effort of promoting Urdu on the web may be a step in the direction of changing that. I noticed yesterday that a new blogger Jahanzeb joined the community of Urdu bloggers when he posted a comment on my blog. [ur](urdu)خوش آمدید جہانزیب۔
Given the current habits of the Pakistani computer users, it will take a very long time before they actually spend a dime (or rupee) for a registered software. How much does a CD cost with the complete assortment of software from Adobe, Macromedia etc.? Well that is a completely different discussion. Please go ahead with the localization of Wordpress. Maybe we should really open up a section at sourceforge for such efforts. By the way there are a few links to Urdu related projects on sourceforge and most of these are empty i.e. no activity ever took place in these projects.
Regards,
Nabeel
February 16th, 2005 at 7:52 am
Dear Nabeel and Danial
Suggest to me, whether I should spend time to localize Wordpress or go for a Bilingual effort. The problem with bilingual is that whenever Wordpress version changes, everything needs to be written from scratch again, from Plugins, to Stylesheets, to Templates, to…. This is a pure headache.
Listen please… For my blog, I am thinking now to bifurcate it into two different blogs altogether… one a completely localized version as of Nabeel, and another completely in English. I’ve been spending time on net to locate and analyze bi-lingual resources. I dont think many people like the idea. Instead they make two different versions. This would solve many of our self-created problems.
So Danial bhai…come into “medaan” ...
We better divide the .mo file in half and start doing it… But I’ll wait till I get your responses.
Zack: Whats your opinion? Localization or bi(or multi) -lingualism?
February 16th, 2005 at 8:11 am
Dear Asif
I really cannot judge the time cost of such an effort and if it pays in the end. Still, if you commit yourself to doing it, do it better open source way i.e. create a website for this localization effort and get people to join in the work. Keeping up-to-date with the changes in WordPress development will still be a challenge.
Regards,
Nabeel
February 16th, 2005 at 10:16 am
In my opinion, we should over time go in this direction:
Unlike say Arabic or Farsi, there is no Urdu user base on the net yet. Also, most educated Pakistanis have a basic understanding of English. Therefore, the Wordpress interface can be understood by them. Plus I am interested in having Urdu output that can be seen by readers.
While plugins/hacks for bilingual blogging will need to be maintained for newer versions of the blogging software, I believe the same is true for localization.
February 16th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
We can’t change Movable type and blogger but we can change wordpress. Right now we can move on by offering customized wordpress which uses Tahoma as the main font in wp-admin section’s stylesheet. We can also use a little javascript and add a button in the pos-edit and post forms which saves posts as Urdu post. We can add another button which deals with Urdu words in English posts and changes them accordingly.
Due to the Themes feature in 1.5 I think we can offer a wordpress with two templates one for an Urdu only blog and the other for a bilingual blog. Users can easily switch between and can modify them easily. I think it would work fine for all. So Asif bhai I think that you can slow down your work on localization. if we wait till 1.5’s stable release then we would have themes, using them cleverly and a few other plugins then there wouldnt be much need of a totally localized version of the software. localized version is not an immidiate need but I think it would be really fun to have one such tool.
February 17th, 2005 at 4:01 am
I have already written a plugin for WP1.5 that puts a button in edit mode, and when checked, saves the post as “urdu” by modifying its metadata. The plugin then hooks four functions, (i) to title, (ii) to content, and (iii) to comment, , and (iv) to date, so that they be formatted accordingly. This is done. Should anyone need, please let me know.
The issue is that WP 1.5 is not completely following the rules. When “the_date” hook should be called, they used “the_time” in the general template which I had to change. This kind of non-conformities, though manageable, are nothing but nuisance and we will have to work them out for all coming versions. Localization would be mostly a one time effort because the phrases they use are mostly static. Anyway thanks for your comments.
February 20th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
Danial: We can change Movable Type and distribute our plugins, hacks and language packs for free. What we cannot do is to distribute Movable Type with our stuff. This makes things a bit more complex for hacks and patches.
Asif: The issue is that WP 1.5 is not completely following the rules.
That’s also true for Movable Type. For example, there is no easy way to write Urdu digits in the dates. Trackback is another major issue.
BTW, if you have a ready version of bilingual WP1.5, please let me know. We should switch this blog to WP since the Movable Type license requires us to buy a copy for a group blog for $70/yr.
February 21st, 2005 at 8:47 am
I am not fmailiar with either WordPress or MovableType. Has anybody ever compared the two? Is it possible to migrate blog in platform to another? Are there any tools that assist this kind of migration?
February 21st, 2005 at 12:19 pm
->Zack: Trackback is an issue with Wordpress also. I followed the discussion on your blog. WP is also not able to handle different character-sets. I dont think my Wordpress 1.5 plugin is ready as I am still trying to figure out, is it worth all the effort. It might take some time. If it is urgent, we can switch to 1.2 mingus, which can then be upgraded to 1.5 as we like.
->Nabeel: Comparison, I have no idea about, but I feel MT is more feature rich though a ‘commercial product’ tag seems to outshines this thing. Yes WP does offer import facility for MT, and many other blog-types.
February 21st, 2005 at 1:03 pm
Asif: I have fixed the trackback issue thanks to Jacques Distler.
The conversion to WP is not urgent, but does need to be done. I’ll do it when I can spare a few hours to it, probably in a couple of weeks. If by then, you have fixed WP 1.5, well and good, otherwise I’ll move this blog to WP 1.2.
February 22nd, 2005 at 4:36 pm
Asif bhai I would also like to play with your modified version of WP. Please email me mo file with comments and from where you think I should start translating.
March 2nd, 2005 at 9:21 am
hi
your naat sides plz mail me ok bye khudahafis
March 3rd, 2005 at 1:57 am
i want urdu into english software if you have then send me
July 15th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
hi! is there any software to translate whole urdu paragraph into English?
plz advise
October 29th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Do we need Educational Softwares for Primary Education ?
If yes, then:
It should be in Urdu or English Language ?
If it should be in Urdu, then Why ?
November 5th, 2006 at 8:22 am
translate english to urdu
May 1st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
my frist attempt to do.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
taza tareen khabrain, urdu novel, urdu afsanay, pakistani songs, indian songs, poetry, wasi shah, parveen shakar, urdu news, khabrain, wallpaper, foods, chat, paheliyan, kahaniyan, storys, and much more.
http://classic.urduplace.com
June 27th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Dear,
Is there any way to write Urdu digits in pure Nastaleeq in MS Words? Some where I found nastaleq digits but som of them are not pure nastaleeq, but Naskh.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:06 am
iwant deeni tareeq
February 5th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
hi
this is my website