Arabic in Safari

Question

Level 1

74 points

Arabic in Safari

I am an Arabic student and need to read Arabic websites for academic purposes. But I noticed even with Arabic set in my International Settings, Safari cannot read Arabic properly. It reads the proper font from the website but it does not connedct the letters properly making it extremely difficult to read the Arabic. If there is anyway to allow Safari to properly read Arabic please let inform me. I did not have this problem with IE Explorer on old DELL. So, I am sure my new Powerbook can handle it. Please let me know!

Thanks

Posted on Aug 16, 2005 3:42 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 16, 2005 3:47 AM in response to Tomio Toyama

Hello Tomio,

Safari does not work too well on some sites. The vast majority do work fine though.

Can you provide a link to one site in question so that others may test it for you - That will, at least, prove out any errors on your machine there.

There are also alternate browsers which may help...

Firefox

is one example.

Regards

Ian

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Aug 16, 2005 4:14 AM in response to Tomio Toyama

Tomio -- Your problem is caused by the presence of Windows Arabic fonts on your machine. Remove them, especially Arial and Times New Roman installed by MS Office in Users/username/Library/Fonts, and Safari will use Apple's Geeza Pro font and display Arabic correctly.

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Answer 3

Tomio Toyama Author

Level 1

74 points

Aug 16, 2005 9:44 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom,

Wow, I deleted Times New Roman and Arial fonts as you suggested and websites are now displaying Arabic properly. Any idea how to get Word to type Arabic properly? The Microsoft Gurus themselves couldn't assist me except by telling me to delete and re-install... another poster told me that it's not possible in Word for MAC OS X, but a "Genius" at the Indy Apple Store was able to do it. Yet then again, the Geniuses in Chicago and Honolulu have not been able to duplicate those results. Thanks!

Tomes

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Answer 4

DXB Law

Level 2

405 points

Aug 16, 2005 10:01 PM in response to Tomio Toyama

Tomio, Microsoft Word for Mac OS X does not support Arabic. In order to type in Arabic you'll need other software, such as Nisus Writer Express (which is developing into an excellent app especially with their latest Beta release); Mellel, NeoOffice/J, Abiword or the like. For a student, I'd recommend Mellel inasmuch as it works, it's stable and it is very reasonably priced. I tend to use Nisus Writer Express.

Tom Gewecke, who has already posted one reply in this thread, is the guru for all things related to languages on your Mac. Check out this link: http://hometown.aol.com/tg3907/mlingos9.html which will tell you everything you need to know and more.

Best of luck with your Mac and with Arabic.

DXB Law

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Answer 5

Tomio Toyama Author

Level 1

74 points

Aug 17, 2005 12:17 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom,

The fonts are in the trashcan but OS X won't let me delete them because they are in use... Any suggestions on how to get rid of them properly? I have already changed the preference fonts on Mail and Safari off of those. Do I have to do that for every application to delete them? Thanks for your great advice!

Tomes

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Aug 17, 2005 4:14 AM in response to Tomio Toyama

a "Genius" at the Indy Apple Store was able to do it.

As far as I know, it cannot be done. The Genius was either using Windows Word operating in Virtual PC or some other program entirely.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Aug 17, 2005 4:16 AM in response to Tomio Toyama

Tomio -- Personally I would not delete these fonts -- just keep them someplace outside the Fonts folders. Once that is done, there is no need to change any preferences.

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