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Travelling on a bullock cart on the motorway will not get one very far, very fast – even if it is modernised with a fibre-glass body and bigger tires. Traditional vehicles simply do not match up to our present-day needs. Interestingly, Urdu has been faced with a similar situation in the world of computing. The Nasta’lique script served us well as long as we were writing and publishing books by hand. But as technology progressed, flaws inherent to the script forced us to stay stuck in first gear when it came to Urdu software on the info highway.
Over the years there have been major roadblocks in the development of software for Urdu: selfishness of developers, lack of awareness, missed opportunities, erratic changes in government policies and inappropriate use of technology. But the basic hurdle has always been the script itself. Like the tail wagging the dog, the script has determined the slow and tortuous progress of Urdu software development. The history of this problem can be traced back to the development of type composing for print media. The script, as it was being formalised then, had the potential to pave the way for future developments but failed to do so.
Almost a thousand years ago, when calligraphy was a widespread means of penning down the spoken word, Nasta’lique was created in Iran for the Persian language. The Mughal rulers of India declared Persian, in Nasta’lique script, as the official language of the state. In the following years, the official language shifted to Urdu and Nasta’lique was automatically adapted to it. However, in the Indian subcontinent, another type of script called Naskh was adopted for Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Brahvi and Kashmiri. Punjab, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Delhi darbar, was the only province that continued to use Nasta’lique.
Today, Naskh is used for almost all the languages written in the Arabic script, including Persian, Kurdish, Jawi (Malaysia and Indonesia), Hausa (Northern Nigeria) and Swahili (East Africa). Urdu remains the only exception. In Naskh, characters follow each other on the same base line, as they do in the Latin script. In Nasta’lique, some character shapes are placed either vertically or slanted against the preceding character, making it difficult for machines to adjust to the type face.
The need for Naskh arose when moveable type for printing was introduced in South Asia in the late Eighteenth century. Despite the high cost and training requirements, almost all the languages were adapted to the new script – but not Urdu. Rather than meeting the requirement of the new technology by switching over to Naskh, publishers hoped to adapt it to work with Nasta’lique. But the technology was unable to accomplish what a katib (calligraphist) was able to do almost effortlessly by hand. The publishers were also concerned about the costs involved – using the machine was far more expensive at that stage. Adapting to the new technology required substantial initial investment and highly trained compositors. Katibs, on the other hand, were already trained and did not require any equipment other than a simple pen and inkpot.
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As
English continued to be the official language in Pakistan, at least at
the government level, the bureaucrats were indifferent to the idea
of developing software for Urdu. The private sector was apprehensive about
profitability especially when the government, who could be the
largest potential customer, was not interested in seeing the software
develop.
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Nasta’lique was technically difficult to reproduce by machine. Only katibs were able to write it with any kind of precision. On the other hand, government officials and ordinary people mostly used the Shikasta script, which was closer to Naskh than Nasta’lique. Technology demanded character-based Naskh but a bias for Nasta’lique overrode the demands of the day.
Another opportunity presented itself at the end of the Nineteenth century when a company called the Lanston Monotype Corporation invented a technology that promised to take the drudgery out of composing text for printed books. The offline keyboards produced a paper tape that was fed into the casting unit. The compositors, who previously manually assembled words letter by letter, now only had to make corrections. Another machine, Linotype, appeared about the same time for use in newspaper agencies, producing solid lines that could be arranged into columns within minutes.
Both technologies provided speedier input, easier corrections, better page design and space fitting and perfect uniformity in output. While Monotype did make some headway in book printing, Linotype found no takers. Every newspaper preferred to employ an army of katibs. Finally, a turning point came in the late 1960s when photocomposing technology gained ground over metal composing. This involved producing film images of text rather than metal slugs. Even though the constantly evolving technology paved the way for competitors, Monotype and Linotype retained their hold on the market. They also continued to maintain a proprietary hold over their technology and kept prices high.
Despite the cost, at least one major Urdu newspaper, Jang, saw the solution to its problems in photocomposing and decided to take the leap. In order to familiarise readers to the change, the newspaper started producing some editorial content in Naskh. The gradual switchover continued and a vital precedent was set for other print media to abandon Nasta’lique. As fate would have it, it was at this juncture that Noori Nasta’lique arrived with a bang.
While discussing the evolution of scripts, it is essential to keep in mind the progress of software development in conjunction with the script changes. The “micro computer” as it was called in the early days, had limited processing power and memory but was capable of handling Naskh. ASCII code met the barest of needs, while the dot matrix printer was unable to print fonts properly and the daisy wheel printer, the only alternative for better printouts, did not have enough spaces for letters.
In other parts of the world, western software companies were giving a great deal of priority to the Arabic language. With an increased customer base in the Arab-speaking world, computer companies were eager to cash in on the lucrative possibilities of developing software for Arabic. With a support system built for Arabic, extending it to Urdu would have been a simple matter. The additional characters for Urdu could have been added within the ASCII code. Had the software developers in this part of the world worked together with their western counterparts, a viable solution could certainly have been developed. There were three main reasons why such a collaborative effort never materialised.
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With
a support system already built for Arabic, extending it to Urdu would
have been a simple matter. The additional characters for Urdu
could have been added within the ASCII code. Had the software developers
in this part of the world worked together with their western
counterparts, a viable solution could certainly have been developed. |
Firstly, there was a lack of awareness. Neither software developers nor the Arab software engineers realised the potential of the market for Urdu, a language which was used by thousands of people around the world. Secondly, the dependency on Nasta’lique, especially amongst its old-fashioned patrons, was detrimental to developing any alternatives as they were vehemently opposed to any tides of change. Hence, the software developers focused on designing the Nasta’lique font. Akin to the alchemists of medieval times, who attempted to change base metals into gold, they spent immense time, energy and money on developing Nasta’lique, even though it had been abandoned everywhere else, even by its home country Iran. Thirdly, there was a serious lack of focused investment. As English continued to be the official language in Pakistan, at least at the government level, the bureaucrats were indifferent to the idea of developing software for Urdu. The private sector was apprehensive about profitability especially when the government, who could be the largest potential customer, was not interested in seeing the software develop.
To make matters worse, the software developers could not find a way to work together. As Arabic software was not being used as the base, every developer began to follow his own approach. They did not form a collective body to ensure coordination and standardisation. Their programs were incompatible, making it impossible to save a file in one program and open it with another. There were gaping holes in software and no debugging facilities, technical support or upgrades were available. The objective of the developers was simply to recover their initial investment as soon as possible, so they charged exorbitant prices. A vicious circle was created – high prices, low sales, small returns on investment, fewer funds for further research and development.
Another inherent problem was that the packages were neither user friendly nor did they provide the solutions they were designed to offer. The widespread frustration of the customers instigated a lack of interest. It was at this time that the arrival of InPage created ripples on the scene. A pirated version of this new software wiped out all the existing software packages in no time at all.
Ironically all this was happening in a country which was a pioneer in adopting the personal computer. The Pakistan government had been one of the first to take the initiative and make the import of computer hardware and software duty free. In 1964, President Ayub Khan took the first step towards a standardisation of script and declared that Naskh would be used for all official purposes, including textbooks. He had a long-term plan and was laying the foundation stone for future generations. The idea was that all school-going children would become familiar with the script as they learnt to read the Holy Quran, which would help them make the transition to Urdu. Also, all the regional languages except one already used Naskh and this move would bring them closer to Urdu not to mention to the Arab world as a whole.
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A
small section of society prevailed upon General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s
to restore the official use of Nasta’lique by arguing that “the
handwriting of children had deteriorated.” This was a clear sign of their
ignorance as they failed to understand that the scripts for handwriting
and printing were inherently like chalk and cheese – they were not meant
to be the same. |
There are also several other advantages to introducing Naskh as the standard script. The diacritical marks (zer, zabar, pesh) could be easily added for correct pronunciation. Urdu could also utilise the latest technology and software designed for Arabic. Naskh would therefore facilitate the input of Urdu into all computer applications. Its files could easily be converted into PDF format while Nasta’lique-based ones could not and lastly, television equipment was able to manipulate text in Naskh as easily as it could English text.
A whole generation was thus immersed in the usage of Naskh for two decades following Ayub Khan’s initiative. Efforts began to develop standard keyboard layouts for manual and electronic typewriters that could later be applied to computers as well. Even IBM took tentative steps to use Urdu with its mainframes. The change of script was widely accepted and the switchover to Naskh was almost complete, setting the pace for further developments.
That left only a small section of society that was unwilling to whole-heartedly accept the change. Unfortunately, rather than adjusting to the change, they managed to regress. They prevailed upon General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s to reverse the policy that had matured under Ayub Khan and restore the official use of Nasta’lique by arguing that “the handwriting of children had deteriorated.” This was a clear sign of their ignorance as they failed to understand that the scripts for handwriting and printing were inherently like chalk and cheese – they were not meant to be the same. For example, we do not write English the way it is printed and hence there was no harm if the children were developing, rather reviving, the Shikasta style of writing by hand.
General Zia, without consulting any linguistic experts, chose to welcome the Noori Nasta’lique script as a great achievement when it was unveiled in 1980. He awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz to the inventor of the script, Ahmed Jamil, in 1982. The script was primarily based on a very large number of ligatures – 18,000 in all. Still, there were countless words for which no ligatures existed and oddly enough in such cases the machines were programmed to switch automatically to Naskh. General Zia also granted a great deal of leeway to manufacturers. As the composing machines were very expensive, he exempted the first 10 units from custom duty, in spite of which the price still came to 6.4 million rupees per unit.
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Microsoft
claims “full support” for Urdu in its latest versions of Windows XP and
Office but in reality falls far short. It provides support only for
the standard keyboard layout that the Pakistan government has recently
approved, ignoring all other layouts and fonts that have been in use
for years. |
The Lahore edition of Jang, setup in October 1981, was the first to use Noori Nasta’lique. All other major Urdu newspapers soon climbed on board, mainly out of fear of being left behind. The smaller publishers that were keen to adopt Noori Nasta’lique, were unable to afford it. Monotype delayed introduction of an affordable stand-alone composing unit for Nasta’lique and when it finally did introduce them, it kept the prices high. This created a lucrative market for hackers who began to pirate the software, making it available at a fraction of the original price. Noori Nasta’lique thus became a saddle without a horse when Monotype discontinued the production of photocomposing machines. The company decided to allow a Delhi-based firm, Concept Software, to market Noori Nasta’lique through a word processing package called InPage. Naskh and about 40 other fonts were added and users had the freedom to select any popular keyboard layout and mix together Arabic, Persian, Sindhi, Pashto, Hazargi, Kashmiri and English.
At long last, the proprietary software for composing became available for computers. By supporting Unicode, a universal encoding standardisation, InPage managed to achieve the ultimate convergence of type composing, word processing and internet applications. As a result, it removed the need to place inelegant GIF images of Urdu text on websites.
The major international software companies that have supported the development of the Arabic script could also aid the development of a standardised Urdu script. But no moves have been made in this direction as yet. Microsoft claims “full support” for Urdu in its latest versions of Windows XP and Office but in reality falls far short. It provides support only for the standard keyboard layout that the Pakistan government has recently approved, ignoring all other layouts and fonts that have been in use for years. InPage, by contrast, offers eight different layouts and the capacity for several more that are user-defined. Windows XP, instead of creating more suitable fonts, has simply modified a few Arabic ones.
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The
Lahore-based Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP) is
collaborating with a multinational group on creating open
source software for Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Dari and Pashto. CRULP has
already made significant achievements by producing a Naskh script
for the internet. |
Meanwhile, the Lahore-based Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP) is collaborating with a multinational group on creating open source software for Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Dari and Pashto. This opens up the possibility of implementing Urdu support for OpenOffice.org, which already supports Arabic, if volunteers from this region would join hands with western developers. CRULP has already made significant achievements by producing a Naskh script for the internet.
Keeping in mind the journey of the Urdu script, one may question what the future holds. There are three possible scenarios: we might soon be looking at an official version of InPage becoming affordable or rampant piracy making it available in every nook and cranny of the Web. On the other hand, Microsoft could realise the importance of including substantial support for Urdu and decide to fix the current deficiencies in Windows XP and Microsoft Office. Lastly, an open source programme such as OpenOffice could become the new platform for bringing Urdu to a worldwide user base. It is conceivable that any or all of these situations may materialise sooner than we think. If so, it would mark the end of an era rife with tribulations and retreats.
Links
Concept Software (InPage)
www.concept-software.com
Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing
www.crulp.org
Linotype
www.linotype.com
Monotype
www.monotypefonts.com
OpenOffice.org
www.openoffice.org
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