| Use the Indic IME to type Malayalam |
| The advent of the Microsoft Office 2003 suite with support enabled to type in Indic languages allows the user to type in any of the Indian languages supported. The languages currently coded possible for usage through Microsoft Office 2003 are Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali. One method of typing the range of complex characters and symbols that form the key characteristics of any Indian script is by the usage of an Indic IME or Input Method Editor. |
| An Input Method Editor (also known as a Input Method Environment) is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter complex characters and symbols (such as Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan and Korean characters, along with Indic characters), using a standard Western keyboard. |
| An IME is an essential component in the operations of the Microsoft Office product range if the user wishes to type in an Indic language like Hindi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil or Bengali. Any user of Microsoft Office who would like to type in any of these languages could either find them available either on the Microsoft Office CD or in the Downloads link in the End Users section of the Microsoft BhashaIndia portal. |
Malayalam, although with several similarities with Tamil, shares some intrinsic points of distinction from Tamil. Malayalam, spoken by around 35 million people around the world, finds great significance with current work towards the development of Malayalam in computing operations. To enable Office-based operations on the PC in Malayalam on the Windows XP platform (Note : Windows XP Service Pack 2 necessary for operation), a simple 5-step procedure is to be followed :
- The support for Malayalam IMEs must be enabled in the PC for the possibility of the usage of the IME. The user must go to Control Panel and then on the button titled “Regional and Language Options”. Three options will emerge as tabs : Regional Options, Languages and Advanced. Select the Languages tab. Check the box titled “Install files for complex scripts and left-to-right languages (including Thai)” and click Apply. Then insert the Windows XP CD to finish the configuration.
- Run the Malayalam IME setup file and restart the computer.
- The next step is to enable the recognition of the keyboard layout a change in language would necessitate. The user must go the Control Panel and then on to Regional and Language Options button. Of the three tabs available, select the Languages tab. Then click on the Details. . . button in the Text services and input languages section. Upon clicking the button, select Malayalam as the input language and Add Malayalam as the keyboard. In the option box that ensues, select Malayalam Indic IME 1 as the option.
- After the installation is complete, start any Office application, including Wordpad or Notepad. Click the Language Indicator located in the System Tray on the right side of the Windows taskbar, and click to select “Malayalam Indic IME 1 from the shortcut menu that appears.
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| The Malayalam Indic IME comes with two types of keyboards : |
1. Malayalam Transliteration :
Using phonetic typing, the user can type his message in Roman using the Standard English keyboard, which is transliterated on-the-fly to Malayalam. It works on the logic of phonetics and is most effective when you spell the word the way it is spoken. |
2. Malayalam Typewriter :
Another Malayalam keyboard used in typing wherein typing can be done as per the key mapping of Malayalam Typewriter keyboard. |
| With these different features available under the Malayalam Indic IME, the user can simply and easily use Microsoft Office to type documents, in any of the various types of document types supported, in Malayalam. |
There are certain issues towards the usage of the Malayalam IME. The complexity of the Indic script coupled with ongoing development of the same will necessitate certain precautions be undertaken and certain points be remembered during the usage of the IME.
- While using the IME in Microsoft Excel, the text will not be displayed until the Space, Enter or Tab keys are pressed.
- When the customized wordlist window is closed, a small window will remain open on the screen of the PC.
- If the Malayalam text is typed at a very rapid rate on Microsoft Front page or in the HTML Compose option on Microsoft Outlook, the program may crash. Hence, a moderate rate of typing is to be maintained.
- There is a high probability of random crashes during the course of execution of the Malayalam script in Microsoft Excel. Hence, frequently save data.
- The performance is slightly slow during the implementation of the Malayalam script on Microsoft Front Page, or the HTML Mail Option on Microsoft Outlook.
- While switching to the English Keyboard option or any other IME that has been installed, the last typed word will be lost if that word is not committed.
- The Enter key must be pressed twice while using Microsoft Front Page or the HTML Compose option in Microsoft Outlook to get a new line.
- If the arrow keys are pressed without committing any text (such as, without pressing Space, Enter or Tab keys), each key needs to be pressed twice to obtain the effect. If the text has been committed, the keys will work smoothly.
- In WordPad, the characters will be rendered as Unicode blocks
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