Category Archives: Arabic

Automatic updating of ATbar and Arabic Desktop Toolbar

Whilst Magnus has been working on moving ATbar onto new servers which has meant that the ATkit framework has been re-engineered for greater stability and will now automatically provided all users with the latest version of ATbar with no need to manually update. Magnus has also finished the first version of the spell checking service and this is now ready for testing. There is a new wiki with plugin guides and more information about the ATbar and the ATkit framework. On the Services page there is also a link to a forum for any questions that may arise.

Nawar Halabi has joined the team to help with our desktop toolbar. We are really grateful to have his expertise in Arabic and desktop programming. He has been developing the Arabic Desktop Toolbar

Arabic Desktop Toolbar

The new Arabic toolbar is an open source windows application built using the C# programming language on top of .NET framework. The main purpose of the toolbar is to provide a launch pad for the Ease of Access options provided by Windows and other accessibility applications to Arab desktop computer users. We hope to gradually provide the same functions that are available on ATbar (which is for web users).

At present the toolbar is available for beta testing and includes four functions: an onscreen keyboard, a screen reader, a magnifier and colour overlays. The first two use the Windows built-in onscreen keyboard and Narrator, and the other two are bespoke applications. The window magnifier and the colour overlays can be adapted to suit the user. There is the ability to open a preferences window where it is possible to customize the size and behaviour of the magnifier (lens or docked); change the colour of overlays and change whether the toolbar windows are always on top (see screenshots).

Please help us to improv the toolbar and by downloading the beta version from github

Observations so far:

A good Arabic screen reader is required to replace windows Narrator. We are looking into the use of NVDA with the Windows Arabic voice. There appear to be no freely available text to speech voices in Arabic at present.
Making the toolbar in a way that accepts plugins (similar to the ATbar browser version) to make it easier to add new features.
The toolbar has been built to be accessible to any input device and could take any language support – at present it is only available in Arabic. It can be used in High contrast mode and has its own desktop icon.

Arabic ATbar spell checking update

Magnus has added an extended Arabic dictionary to our spell checker which has resulted in better error correction. The size of this new dictionary is twenty times larger than the one used originally building on the original Aspell dictionary. We are also able to supplement the database with additional words.

Alaa has been testing the checker and noticed an error on our web page that we use for trying the toolbar. This time the words offered as alternatives made sense and could be used when she was making mistakes.

We now have a database that records the word that has been misspelled, saves the error alongside the word that has been chosen from the correction list or notes the fact that the user has ignored the offered words. The database handles all languages but those words in Arabic are appear incomprehensible to readers due to the UTF-8 coding.

Word Prediction update

During the summer we noticed that AIType was cutting off the initial letters when used with Internet Explorer and then we had a complete collapse of the service for a short time. This caused some concern and when we tested the Windows desktop version of the software we could not reach the servers as quickly as expected.

AIType were amazingly quick in reassuring us that they had had some server issues but these were immediately rectified. We checked our servers and the problems happened to occur just as Magnus was updating our servers as well.

Happily the speed issues have been resolved and so have the problems that were occurring with Internet Explorer. Both the Arabic and English word prediction are working well at the moment as has been illustrated in the graphic whilst writing this blog. I have been using the HTML view in WordPress. If you use the Visual mode in rich text editors there tends to be a problem with the dialog box with the word selections not appearing possibly due to the javascript edit box overriding the word prediction whereas a simple edit box always works. As many of the menu items on the rich text editor tool bar are not accessible via keyboard, this may not be an issue for those who do not use a mouse.

Word prediction used with a simple edit box - HTML mode in WordPress

الصورة التي تظهر هي اختبار البرنامج بالعربي

ATbar Marketplace update in Arabic and English

Over the last two weeks Magnus has been working hard to make the Arabic marketplace and the English marketplace easier to use – Now it is time for testing and providing comments! With over 30 plugins it was becoming apparent that we needed to sort and filter the contents of the marketplace.

Search and Filter

The ‘Search’ works in English and Arabic and you can search for plugin and toolbar names, descriptions and categories plus tags that are language specific. Search words are recorded so that we are aware what is being searched and can work on the type of plugins that may be required. The search is not collecting any IP addresses or personal data.

Plugins can be filtered by language and category and you can set the number of items to be viewed per page so that you do not have endless plugins scrolling down. However, once a plugin has been chosen the page jumps back to where you were if choose to have a long list.

Language changes

If you are in a page belonging to one language it is now possible to switch between languages and stay on the same page rather than jump back to home.

Install Toolbars

There is now a helpful arrow to show you how to add a toolbar to your browser. The only problem we have to overcome is the fact that the ‘Install button’ becomes the name of your toolbar and you might need to re-name the bookmark (right hand mouse – edit (Chrome) or rename (Internet Explorer) in your bookmark/favorites list or under properties in Firefox). This is available in both Arabic and English.

This is how you rename the toolbar of your choice. There is the possibility of using the title of a toolbar for the install button but this could mean the name is too long – short names are best.

A framework that might help those developing Arabic software and websites.

Fadwa ALRowais is researching the use of a framework that is aimed at helping those developing software in the Arabic language to be more aware of issues that might arise for those who have Dyslexia. This is proving very helpful in general terms for those of us who do not speak, read or write the language.

Navigation features

One navigational requirement says: ” Ensure that data entry, ‎data display and navigation controls are ‎consistent in direction (for example, in ‎Arabic interface data entry ‎for ‎textual content should be from right to left, for numeric content from left ‎to right and navigation controls for the next screen should point towards ‎the left and for the previous screen point towards the right).‎

Should the reset page icon on ATbar stay with an arrow heading left or should it be reversed as its intent is to send you back to an original look?

Whilst work goes ahead to make the toolbar and its menus read from right to left we want to ensure that all icons are correct and are representative of their functions.

What happens when you linearise a web page for easier reading in Arabic – it should go from right to left but this will only happen if you are using the Arabic version of the ATbar. Reading ahead you will see some discussion about justification and this can be done via the CSS (Cascading Style sheet file) on the ATbar website and also under the colour changes plug-in.

Text to Speech issues

It has been hard to find a localised text to speech (TTS) engine as voices in Arabic appear to only exist in Standard Arabic and the language spoken on a daily basis differs from the language used in education and in formal writing.

Localisation apart there is also the concerns about the way the text is read not just the type of voice. Whereas in English there are clear word margins and punctuation to help the TTS engine, in Arabic there are two types of spacing – the word boundary space and spaces that can occur within a word. Accurate pausing and intonation patterns are harder to achieve with synthesised voices in this case.

Website Content

Cultural aspects of the language that impact on help files and instructions – There is the need to have separate dialogues for each gender because the Arabic language is a gender ‎specific language (for example, the word (‎رَسَمت‎) /rasamat/ which means ‎‎’draw’ is used to refer to the female, while the word (‎رَسَمَ‎) /rasama/ is used to ‎refer to the male).‎ In fact many sites use the male version, but this is something we need to consider when working on training materials in particular.

Fonts that are easy to read are important such as Arabic Transparent and Simplified Arabic Fixed, avoiding angular font types such as Koufi and Andalus. In the case of the ATbar site Helvetica neue was chosen in sans serif style. However, we have also been advised that whenever possible it is important to offer automatic diacritization so the ‎appearance ‎of ‎diacritics can be controlled with options for full ‎diacritics, ‎partial ‎diacritics and no diacritics. The use of partial diacritics ‎with Arabic ‎script is better than ‎no diacritics,because those who are dyslexic may be depending on the diacritics for phonological assistance via their visual clues. An example of this occurs when discussing ‘tanween’ ‎‎/n/ formatted as ‎a diacritic, to ‎distinguish between root word ‎ending with letter ‘n’‎‏‎ ‎‏and ‎sound ‎‏/‏n‏/ ‏produced by ‎diacritics at ‎‏the ‎end of word ‎‏‎(‎for example‎: /‎n‎/ ‎at the ‎end of the word ‎‏‎(‎لُبْنَان‎) /loobnaan/ is different from /n/ at the ‎end of the ‎word ‎‎(‎لَيْلٌ‎) ‎‎‏/‏lailon/).‎

When it comes to Arabic text alignment the advice is to use right-justified or fully-justified ‎text. In ‎full-justified mode, Arabic orthographies use ‎connectors (kashida) elongating ‎specific characters of the cursive ‎script without producing extra white space ‎between words as in English texts. Fully-justified ‎Arabic text has been reported as ‎being useful for better recognition of letters and attached diacritics as ‎well as offering visual help when reading from right to ‎left and moving from top to bottom through ‎the lines.‎

We are hoping we can improve our web pages and the toolbar to illustrate as many of the guidelines as possible. More guidelines will follow as the framework is developed. Thank you Fadwa.

Mada Center launches ATbar in Arabic with news reel coverage.

The Mada Center hosted the launch of ATbar in Arabic their news article began:

Mada (Qatar Assistive Technology Center) has released the Arabic version of “AT Bar,” a powerful open source tool that enables people with disabilities to access the internet and computers with greater access.

This comes with a very big thank you for the Mada Center’s support for this project and the wonderful time I was given by David Banes and all those at the Center during this time. I could not believe it when I read the papers the next day. The Gulf Tribune, Creative Commons Qatar and Peninsula papers had articles about the ATbar along with ‘Qatar is Booming.com’.

Thank you

YouTube videos illustrating the ATbar features.

We have set up a series of YouTube videos that include:

Text resizing, font style changes and line spacing. This video has no audio but shows how a user can select the magnifier on the toolbar to enlarge text without resizing the graphics – this tends to allow for more readable text when compared to zooming using the browser Ctrl+ which also enlarges the graphics. However, this feature does not work when Flash has been used within a webpage or fonts have fixed sizes or styles. The same applies to increased line spacing which is also demonstrated.

YouTube link to the video

The second video demonstrates how the A.I.Type word prediction works as well as spell checking when writing a blog using WordPress. Use the HTML mode when working in the edit box rather than the Visual mode and then you will also be able to use the text to speech to aid proof reading.

YouTube link to the video

The last video demonstrates the use of text to speech with the Acapela voice in both Arabic and English.

YouTube link to the video

ATBar Word Prediction and Text to Speech working in text boxes

Arabic wordprediction with keyboard access

Seb has enabled the AIType word prediciton with keyboard access and text to speech for simple text boxes in his recent updates to the toolbar for both Arabic and English.

The Word prediction button needs to be selected before entering text. It is possible to use the ‘esc’key to ignore a prediction and close the dialog box or use Ctrl+Alt and the word position as a number to insert the required word.

Word Prediction in WordPress

We have found that the prediction and text to speech work with HTML views of text boxes in WordPress and Blogger but not the Visual mode which overrides the ATbar.

The text needs to be highlighted before the text to speech button is selected. There may be a pause before you hear the speech.

ATbar WordPress Plugin now available in Arabic and English

Adding ATbar WordPress plugin

Magnus has just updated his ATbar WordPress plugin so it now supports English, Arabic and the Marketplace toolbars. You just select the version you want and if it is a marketplace one, just paste the install link from the toolbar viewing page in the marketplace and it will load the toolbar just like the normal ATbar.

It’s uploaded on the WordPress repository and Git Hub and it’s installed on our blogs and ATbar.org.

Anyone found useful open source assistive technology programs in Arabic?

From a three year old slideshare presentation by Ahmed Mekkawy on “FOSS: Technologies, Communities, and the Society“, it is clear that there is interest in the current status of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) in Arab societies.

FOSS: Technologies Communities And Society

View more PowerPoint from Global Voices

A recent FOSS survey is seeking to learn more about user engagement with the open source community. It has been produced by ‘a regional research team affiliated with the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the School of Business of the American University in Cairo, in collaboration with Ma3bar, the Arab Support Center for Free & Open Source Software at the University of Balamand, Al-Kurah, Lebanon.’

It would be wonderful if the results of the survey could provide us with more information about Arabic open source assistive technologies but for the moment just knowing about the availability of any products would be helpful. (Sadly the survey ends with a Captcha so it is not screen reader accessible.

There are blogs on the subject such as ArabicFOSS – it is written in Arabic (Try our Google translate plugin that works with the major browsers) and another is LinuxArabia.com. The Jordan Open Source Association has a good following at present and their Facebook page links to many other discussion forums and blogs, but not to the Arab Afro Open Source Software Forum if that part of the world is of more interest.

Despite searching and contacting individuals accross the area we have struggled to find FOSS assistive technology programs that have already been developed in the Arabic language. Please leave comments to tell us about any you might have found.

miftaah logo Miftaah on Ma3bar.org offers Araic translations for information about several portable apps. Their range of apps includes office, browser, email, PDF readers and VLC. However, I discovered that although the menus may be in Arabic (as we have achieved with our Access Tools pendrive menu (version 2) the actual programs are still those available in English from Portable apps).

ArabEyes has links to a number of start up projects including the Duali spell checker and Khotot, a set of open TTF Arabic fonts. More information is available about the latest release of the bold version of KacstOne font v5.0.
Sadly many of the other sites are dated and the code is no longer being updated.

The Firefox browser is available in Arabic but when you start to look for ‘add-ons’ you immediately return to a US version from the Arabic page – search on ‘Arabic’ and the results are mainly linked to keyboards, dictionaries and translations. The spell checker uses the same database as that used in all the browsers and ATbar – Ayaspell based on Hunspell – also available as the Ayaspell project from Source Forge.

Zekr have produced a “Free Open Source Quran Study Software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS” that is available in several languages including Arabic with audio support but thre does not appear any support to update the work on espeak in Arabic although it is happening in European Languages.

Perhaps the place for professionals to find out more is the ArabNet as this crosses boundaries when it comes to the commercial and open source world. It hosted the ArabNet Digital Summit in Beirut and as Mike Butcher from TechCrunch said:

“The MENA (Middle East North Africa) region’s largest digital event has been expanded to 5 days featuring speakers, panels, workshops, a startup competition and about 1,500 delegates. In a sign the the Arab business world is really getting switched on to tech these days, there’s even a hackathon-style developer event during the conference. I daresay there will be some interesting startups for TechCrunch to unearth there.”

So hopefully you will join us in the quest for open source and freely available Arabic language assistive technology. Here is a short video from the Mada Center in Qatar about building the awareness around assistive technology and accessibility in Arabic.

It is thanks to the Mada Center that we have been able to explore the development of open source assistive technologies in Arabic and the latest version of the ATbar in Arabic has occurred.