Arabic word processor suggestions

Magnus · 7th August 2008, 20:05

I want some ideas... I'm looking for suggestions for a good word processor application for a small office with several writers. The focus is on writing text, no need for layout, graphics and stuff like that. That means that grammar and spelling help would be good though. Arabic and English are equally important, and the app need to run on Intel Macs as well as older PPC Macs. Paying a bit for the app is okay but free is of course nice

There's OpenOffice.org 3 beta but it's Intel only, there's Mellel, there's Nisus, and there's... ??? And which is better in your opinion?

AlIrani · 7th August 2008, 21:12

Hej Magnus,

Have a look on free alternative NeoOffice http://www.neooffice.org which works on both Intel and PPC, too.

My choice for Arabic word-processing is Mellel www.mellel.com; it has everything you may need (No Arabic spell checking though but systemwide spell checker). Right now they have discount and Mellel would cost 35USD/license. A "Five Pack" (or Family/SOHO pack) which includes 5 separate licenses cost 79USD.

If you have more specific question let me know.

Al-Irani

Magnus · 7th August 2008, 21:17

Thank you Al-Irani, much appreciated.

fangpyre · 7th August 2008, 22:14

I agree with his choice for NeoOffice.
Never tried Mellel

Zaid Al Hilali · 8th August 2008, 01:04

I may know more about your office needs so if you allow me to say that Text Edit is enough for what you need currently.
Text Edit has been a very reliable simple text editor just like Simple Text in old days. You can select right-to-left alignment from Format > Text > Writing Direction, utilize Arabic dictionary, then share your Arabic file with Windows or even start your workflow by opening incoming MS Word document with Arabic contents from Windows.

All the above free and simple, any new Mac user such as translator would appreciate Text Edit relative strength but would mostly appreciate its simplicity.

Since you have InDesign ME, you will also find it mostly sensible to start your work in Text Edit save as RTF, Doc, or Docx then place it in Adobe InDesign. If you have tables within your Arabic text, just add the table in InDesign as second stage.

Nevertheless, you can get a fully loaded Nisus, Millel, or Neo Office at a later stage after you have tested Text Edit.

Magnus · 8th August 2008, 06:44

Thanks Zaid. You probably shouldn't just assume which office I was asking about

Anyway... TextEdit may work, but it's missing one critical part, word count. There are apparently ways to fix that though, which I've not tried. Personally I love WriteRoom and do most my writing there but I'm not sure about its support for Arabic. Could anyone help me out there?

NeoOffice is of course an alternative, should have put that on my list to start with.

Zaid Al Hilali · 8th August 2008, 10:50

I've just tried WriteRoom, it behaves and operates just like Text Edit, as if they are the same. It supports Arabic, but should be tested in a complete workflow i.e. save then place into InDesign for instance with Arabic in it. One major thing, it lacks exporting to multiformats, it saves txt only.

AlIrani · 8th August 2008, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaid Al Hilali

One major thing, it lacks exporting to multiformats, it saves txt only.

Hi all,

Then may I come with another free, Open-Source suggestion?
"Bean" Bean: An OS X Word Processor . It can export/save to many different formats and it has "Live Word Count".

All of these text editors are based on OSX system level text processor i.e CoreText. Some programers add some nifty features to it some tweak with the interface only.

Al-Irani

Magnus · 8th August 2008, 20:07

Perhaps we can throw Google Docs into the mix? If we could keep the interface in English but write in Arabic and English then it might work.

AlIrani · 8th August 2008, 22:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnus

Perhaps we can throw Google Docs into the mix? If we could keep the interface in English but write in Arabic and English then it might work.

....but that one doesn't support RTL text input.

Al-Irani

7th August 2008, 20:05	#1 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,397	Arabic word processor suggestions I want some ideas... I'm looking for suggestions for a good word processor application for a small office with several writers. The focus is on writing text, no need for layout, graphics and stuff like that. That means that grammar and spelling help would be good though. Arabic and English are equally important, and the app need to run on Intel Macs as well as older PPC Macs. Paying a bit for the app is okay but free is of course nice There's OpenOffice.org 3 beta but it's Intel only, there's Mellel, there's Nisus, and there's... ??? And which is better in your opinion?

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7th August 2008, 21:12	#2 (permalink)
AlIrani Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Stockholm-Sweden Posts: 33	Hej Magnus, Have a look on free alternative NeoOffice http://www.neooffice.org which works on both Intel and PPC, too. My choice for Arabic word-processing is Mellel www.mellel.com; it has everything you may need (No Arabic spell checking though but systemwide spell checker). Right now they have discount and Mellel would cost 35USD/license. A "Five Pack" (or Family/SOHO pack) which includes 5 separate licenses cost 79USD. If you have more specific question let me know. Al-Irani

7th August 2008, 21:17	#3 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,397	Thank you Al-Irani, much appreciated.

7th August 2008, 22:14	#4 (permalink)
fangpyre Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Dubai Posts: 1,417	I agree with his choice for NeoOffice. Never tried Mellel

8th August 2008, 01:04	#5 (permalink)
Zaid Al Hilali Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Mirdif-Dubai Posts: 1,403	I may know more about your office needs so if you allow me to say that Text Edit is enough for what you need currently. Text Edit has been a very reliable simple text editor just like Simple Text in old days. You can select right-to-left alignment from Format > Text > Writing Direction, utilize Arabic dictionary, then share your Arabic file with Windows or even start your workflow by opening incoming MS Word document with Arabic contents from Windows. All the above free and simple, any new Mac user such as translator would appreciate Text Edit relative strength but would mostly appreciate its simplicity. Since you have InDesign ME, you will also find it mostly sensible to start your work in Text Edit save as RTF, Doc, or Docx then place it in Adobe InDesign. If you have tables within your Arabic text, just add the table in InDesign as second stage. Nevertheless, you can get a fully loaded Nisus, Millel, or Neo Office at a later stage after you have tested Text Edit.

8th August 2008, 06:44	#6 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,397	Thanks Zaid. You probably shouldn't just assume which office I was asking about Anyway... TextEdit may work, but it's missing one critical part, word count. There are apparently ways to fix that though, which I've not tried. Personally I love WriteRoom and do most my writing there but I'm not sure about its support for Arabic. Could anyone help me out there? NeoOffice is of course an alternative, should have put that on my list to start with.

8th August 2008, 10:50	#7 (permalink)
Zaid Al Hilali Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Mirdif-Dubai Posts: 1,403	I've just tried WriteRoom, it behaves and operates just like Text Edit, as if they are the same. It supports Arabic, but should be tested in a complete workflow i.e. save then place into InDesign for instance with Arabic in it. One major thing, it lacks exporting to multiformats, it saves txt only.

8th August 2008, 20:07	#9 (permalink)
Magnus Administrator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 8,397	Perhaps we can throw Google Docs into the mix? If we could keep the interface in English but write in Arabic and English then it might work.