Blogging can be done in languages other than English as well. It can be done in regional languages of India as well and this presentation is all about how to do it giving Hindi's example.

1. Blogging Beyond English
by:
Amit Gupta
www.a mitgupta .in

2. What are we looking at?
 Is it possible to do it in languages besides English ?
 What about the font problems ?
 How will others be able to read ?
 How can I write in a language other than English
the easy way?
 Which Blog Platform ?

3. Is it possible to do it in
languages besides English ?
 Yes , its definitely possible . जी हाँ यह ििलकल सं भ व है ।
ु
 Hundreds of thousands are already doing it .
 Three Big Guns on Internet – MSN, Yahoo &
Google – already have their portals in languages
other than English .
 What do ya think ? I blog in Hindi as well!
 http :/ / hindi.am itgupta .in /
 Currently more than 7200 Hindi Blogs
 600+ Hindi Blog posts being written every day

5. What about the font problems ?
 Say what ? Font problems ?
 Its time to wa ke up !! :)
 Say Hello to Unicode .
 It supports characters from ma ny langua ges and
supports both Left -to-Right and Right -to-Left scripts .
 Many free Unicode fonts available on internet .
 For Hindi, Mangal is a popula r Unicode font .
Arial Unicode MS is a massive 22 MB font but has support
for ma ny scripts , and its rendering is bea utiful a s well. :)
 Most major operating systems are Unicode enabled by default .
Eg. Microsoft Windows XP and Vista

6. How will others be able to read ?
 If they are using Unicode enabled operating system and if their
browser supports Unicode and if they have the character set
installed .
 Microsoft Windows XP a nd Vista support Unicode by default .
 Browsers (on Windows ) –
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera
 For help on Hindi --
http://snipurl.com/read_hindi

7. Writing non-English the easy
way!!
 Its very very easy, really!!
 Lets see how:
 On windows , you just need to setup an IME – an Input
Method Editor.
 Options –
Indic IME - www.bhashaindia.com
Bara ha IME - www.baraha.com/BarahaIME.htm
 More info on Hindi typing -- http://snipurl.com/type_hindi
 Negligible learning curve – many input schemes available .
 InScript – developed by C-DAC, endorsed by Govt . of India
 Remington , Typewriter
 Phonetic

8. Writing non-English the easy
way!!
 Phonetic is very easy & recommended for people with
no prior experience in Hindi Typing.
a + m + i + t = अिित
g + u + p + t + A = गुपा
a + m + i + t = ಅಮತ
g + u + p + t + A = ಗುಪಾಾ

9. Which Blog Platform ?
 WordPress and Blogger – both work !
 WordPress software – www.wordpress .org
 WordPress .com service – www.wordpress .com
 Blogger.com service – www.blogger.com
 Its your choice !

10. End Notes
 Softwares :
 Options for windows –
Indic IME - www.bhashaindia.com (13 Languages)
Bara ha IME - www.baraha.com/BarahaIME.htm (11 Languages)
More on Hindi -- http://snipurl.com/hindi_tools
 Help on the Web for Hindi :
 Setup Help -- http://devanaagarii.net/
 Wiki -- www.akshargram.com/sarvagya
 Discussions -- http://groups.google.com/group/Chithakar/
 Major Hindi Blog Aggregators :
 Narad -- http://narad.akshargram.com/
 Hindi Blogs -- http://www.hindiblogs.com/
 Chitthajagat -- http://www.chitthajagat.in/
 Blogvani -- http://www.blogvani.com/

11. Questions ?
कोई पश ? ?