Hebrew Spell Checking for Firefox

Sorry for the lack of posts; the baby is more time-consuming than I imagined.

Useful for e-mails and Google docs.

Click here

Setting up Hebrew in Open Office Writer

Once your computer is set up for Hebrew, you still have to set up Hebrew capablilities in Writer. (Right-to-Left is referred to as Complex Text Layout, or CTL.)

Open a new document and go to Tools -> Options -> Language Settings -> Languages

Check off the “Enabled for Complex Text Layout (CTL)” box.

Set your Western Language for “English” and your CTL for “Hebrew”

Click OK and you’re good to go.

Hebrew on your computer

If you have a Windows XP computer your computer is capable of handling many languages. This is how you set up Hebrew. (The same is true for Windows 2000 and Vista, with variations on these directions)

Start –> Control Panel
Click on “Date, Time, Language, Regional Options”
Click on “Regional and Language Options”
Click on the “Languages” Tab
In the “Supplemental Language Support” box, Click on the check box for “Install complex script and right-to-left languages”
Click OK

Back to the “Languages” Tab
Click on “Details”
Click “Add”
Click “Input Language”
(Choose) Hebrew
Click “OK”
Click “Apply”
Click “OK” (Box will close)
Click “Apply”
Click “OK” (Box will close)
You may close the Date, Time, Language, Regional Options screen now

The good news is that you only have to do this once.

Down on the bottom on the Taskbar you will see a box with EN in it. To change to Hebrew, you may either
1. Hit Alt + Shift
2. Click the EN box and then click on HE
Do the opposite to switch back to English
 

Adobe Acrobat and You – Viewing a .pdf file

One of the best things to happen to internet communications was the invention of Adobe Acrobat (any document ending with .pdf). PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and basically it “takes a snapshot” of your page. Why? So you can share your work with anyone, with any type of computer (Mac or PC, etc) with any type of word-processor. So no more will a student say, “I couldn’t open the review sheet because we have a Mac, or we don’t have Word, or my computer can’t handle Hebrew, etc.”

All the receiving end requires is a free program to read the document. Most Internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) can also read .pdf files.

Adobe Reader is available for free download, and is compatible with all types of computers. Feel free to uncheck “Also Install: Adobe Media Player” if you want. You don’t need it to read .pdfs.

Another program that opens Acrobat files is Foxit. It is also free, much smaller and quicker to open than Adobe Reader, and I find myself turning to it more and more.
Foxit Reader can be downloaded here. [You want to download the file called Foxit Reader 2.3 (.exe)]

Click here for a shot of Adobe Reader and here for a shot of the same document opened in Foxit Reader.

AbiWord – an alternative Word Processor

In my previous post I introduced you to OpenOffice. I forgot to mention, that OpenOffice can save documents in a compatible format with other programs, including Microsoft’s. So if you work on a test at home in OO, you can save it as a Word-compatible (.doc) document and open it and edit it in Word at school.

Another freeware Open Source program for word-processing is AbiWord.

Abiword reminds me of Word or WordPerfect before they succumbed to Feature Bloat. It’s small, loads up very quickly, and does everything I need it to do. It handles Hebrew (with one or two quirks I’ll deal with later) and can save in a multitude of formats, including Microsoft Word.

Here is a shot of Abiword’s main screen.

And to compare, here is a shot of OpenOffice’s wordprocessor, named Writer.

I’ve been playing with both, and am leaning towards AbiWord, primarily because it’s faster. Also, because the program itself is so small it can run off of a Flash Drive and go where I go, regardless of whether it’s installed on any particular computer. (In truth, so can Writer.) More on that later.

If you’d like to try AbiWord (it’s absolutely free) you can download it here.

Intro to Freeware

Let’s define “freeware.”
Freeware is software that developers offer for free. Get it?

Why would someone do that? Are they mad?!

Maybe.

Or maybe they are professional software designers who hope to entice you to purchase their more expensive package by giving you a taste of what they can do for free. Kind of a test-drive. Sometimes it’s a fully functional but older version of the current product.

Or they could be computer programmers who came up with something useful that they wish to share with the world for the sheer joy of it.

Or, they might be left-overs from the idealistic hippies who designed the web, and who feel that information just wants to be free, man.

Today we’re going to look at Open Source software. It’s software where the code is available to developers, who then play with it and develop new features, which are sometimes then incorporated into the package. Open Source software is updated often. And it’s free and legal, unlike “borrowed” software.

Open Office is a wonderful program if you need any or all of the following programs: word-processor, spreadsheet program, presentation software (like PowerPoint), graphics, and database. You can choose to install all of the programs or only the ones you need. (I passed on the database and spreadsheet ones.)
As an added bonus, Open Office has a Hebrew dictionary for spell-check. Cool.

Click here to go to Open Office. Read more, and download it and install it and try it out. (If you already have a word-processor and just want to test out OO, be careful to uncheck the “Make Open Office your default” option.)

In future posts, we’ll discuss some of Open Office’s features.

Getting it on the Web

I’m trying to help teachers (especially, but not exclusively, Limudei Kodesh teachers) with little computer experience or savvy to learn to use the web as a tool for posting homework, handouts, test information and useful links and resources for their students.

My secondary goal is to assist teachers to use readily available (and free!) programs to produce professional-looking material for their students.

We’ll start with the quick-and-dirty method of using a blog (short for “web log”) as a substitute for a website.
The advantages of using a blog are:

• It requires no knowledge of web-design.
• It requires no special programs.
• It can be updated in moments from any available computer.
• You can upload documents, post helpful links or get an assignment to your students without having to e-mail everyone.
• Parents can keep posted on assignments, upcoming projects, due dates and exams.

Next post, we’ll get you your own blog and start rolling!