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Reading Persian on the Internet

Most of you will have no problem seeing Persian script on the internet.  The only exception is if you’re using an older browser, say Explorer in a Mac (which has been discontinued, so should rarely come up).  If this is the problem, just switch to a different browser - find one that works.  Firefox is generally good.

Input Persian Yourself

You can read the Persian.  But how do you type it in?  How can you type in Persian and make comments and post on the forum?  Seems mysterious, but it’s not.  You just need to set your computer up for Persian, and then be able to tell your computer and keyboard when you want to switch to and from that language. 

The way you do this is different for a PC and a Mac.

PC-Microsoft-Windows

To set up your computer on windows, you will need to:

Click START
Click Control Panel
Double Click Regional and Language Option

Note:  You must be logged in as an adminstrator in order to do this sort of thing, so if you’re not the computer owner, like if you’re in a library, you have to ask them to set it up.

Now, you’re in the Regional and Language Option:

In the Languages tab, under Supplemental language support, select the Install files for right to left languages check box.  Click OK or Apply.

Then...OK, I am at a Mac now, a little fuzzy on the PC sequence.  Will finish this post when I get to a library with a PC. 

Play around with it, you may figure it out.  The remaining steps are to then select the language from the other tab, and you can also set it up so that there is a little switch that you will see on your desktop for when you want to switch between languages.  And finally, there is a keyboard shortcut for this. 

Macintosh - Apple

Click the Apple in the top left corner. 
Click on System Preferences. 
Click on International.
Ignore the Language tab.  Click on Input Menu.
Scroll down until you find Persian.  Check the box next to it. 

Now, in the top row of the computer screen, at the end of the menu, to the right of Help, you should see either the American flag or the little Persian map/cat.  Those are the languages you have set up for input.  Click on the icon and a menu drops down.  From here you can switch the languages. 

You can also use a shortcut - Apple + Spacebar - to switch between languages.

Notice now that when you type, if the Persian icon is in the menu, your typing comes out in Persian, if the American flag is there, you type in English. 

This only works for programs that understand Persian, so the keyboard will not let you change language if you are in a program that doesn’t have it supported.  The icon will be unclickable.

Mac OS 10.3 and 10.4 Browser Issue

You may notice that in OS 10.3 or 10.4 you cannot read the Persian very well, as the text is not connected.  Instead of فارسى you see it in the seperate letters - ف ا ر س ى - this is very annoying.  The problem is in Safari.  If you download the Firefox browser (it’s free!), everything seems to work fine. 

The ى “ye” problem

You may also notice a problem with the appearance of the letter “ye” in a word in Microsoft.  If the “ye” appears in the middle of a word, it might look like this: بىن - but you want it to look like this:  بين (if you’re on a PC, you won’t notice a difference).  What you need to do for this is hold the option key when you type the “ye”.  ييييي

Typing in Persian

OK, so you’ve set up your computer to input in Persian, and you hit the keys and Persian letters appear.  Great!  Now you just need to see the keyboard layout.  Best thing to do, get those stickers to put on your keyboard.  Avaiable from Avalienghadam.com for only $4.99.  Here’s what they look like.

And don’t worry that it will be hard to learn how to type all the different forms of a letter.  You hit the key, and the computer puts it in the right form.  Also, the Persian keyboard is set up really well.  The keys you use the most are accessible right in the middle row and with the index fingers.  It’s not like the bizzare qwertyuiop thing you have to deal with in English. 

The stickers will help you at first, but soon, you’ll get the hang of the board. 

One final note about the keyboard stickers, a mac and a pc have a slight difference in the location of the رزدذ and perhaps a few other letters.  So make sure you test the key before putting the sticker on.  This is also a heads up for you’re on someone else’s computer the different letter comes up.