Unicode in Biblical Studies
By Gergely Juhász
Cariad, 28 June 2010
(Why) Do we need Unicode?
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Codepages – same code, several characters
(Why) Do we need Unicode?
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In codepages:
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same code represents several different characters (even
within one codepage)
same character is represented by different characters
not all characters/scripts are represented
Fonts
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Myriad of varieties, each with its own encoding
The computer is not “aware” of the fact that you are
typing in Greek or Hebrew (use of punctuation marks).
Gibberish for those who do not have the font.
http://teolog.ru/shrift/index.php (legality?)
https://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0013314/greekg/fonts.ht
m
Advantages of Unicode
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1. Universally compatible (Windows, Mac, Linux, PPC, IPhone,
Android, BlackBerry etc.)
2. You can use the same font throughout the entire document (e.g.
Arial, or Times New Roman) for writing whether in English, Greek or
Hebrew (and also for writing in Coptic, Cyrillic, Tamil, Japanese,
Vietnamese, Cherokee etc.)
3. You (or your editor/publisher) can change the font without messing
up your Greek or Hebrew
4. You can use it in websites (regardless the browser and the operating
system it is viewed in)
5. Correct word wrapping: the words won’t break in the middle of a
word, diacritic before a capital vowel (Ἅ) stays together with the vowel.
6. If you use Hebrew, it will respect right to left reading even when it
spills over one line and is mixed within an English (or other left to right
language) text, so you don't have to worry about line breaks.
7. You are not in a shadowy area of copyright by using freely available,
not proprietary fonts etc.
8. You are able to use a spelling checker (if it exists and you own it).
How do I start or switch to
using Unicode?
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To convert your
existing documents
created in another
font:
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http://www.greektrans
coder.org/
Macro for Greek Parse
Code table
Copy & Paste Bible Texts in
Unicode (Online)
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Greek New Testament (NA26):
http://www.greekbible.com
Perseus (with parsing &
language tools):
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:
1999.01.0155:book=Matthew:
chapter=1:verse=1&redirect=t
rue
The Unbound Bible (with many
languages and versions,
including, BHS, WLC, Aleppo,
LXX, Byzantine, TR, WH, UBS4,
and a lot more):
http://unbound.biola.edu/
Hebrew Bible:
http://www.tanach.us
Copy & Paste Bible Texts in
Unicode (Offline)
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BibleWorks (from version 7.0)
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E-Sword (freeware with tons of
languages and versions):
http://www.e-sword.net/
LOGOS Bible Software
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http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/f
onts
ACCORDANCE Bible Software
(MAC)
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Go to Tools/Options/Fonts/Export
Fonts
Choose a Unicode font and make
sure Unicode is checked
http://www.accordancebible.com/s
upport/unicode.php
And many others (e.g. Bible
Explorer freeware etc.)
How to type in Unicode?
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Code converters
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MS Word/WordPad specific:
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Hexadecimal code + ALT X
ALT + Decimal code on Num Keypad (depends on your code page and
input locale)
MS Unicode IME (MS Language Bar - Chinese Traditional - Unicode)
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Unicode Input Utility:
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Online
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http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/05/18/419117.aspx
http://www.fileformat.info/tool/unicodeinput/index.htm
http://www.typegreek.com/
http://www.2keystrokes.com/
Keyboards
Keyboards
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MS Windows Language Bar
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http://www.biblicalgreek.org/links/fonts/keyboard.html
SIL Hebrew (freeware):
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=SILKeyboards
Multikey (freeware)
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/multikey/
KbdEdit:
http://www.kbdedit.com/manual/editions.html
Antioch (shareware for typing Greek and Hebrew in MS Word, 50 USD):
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~hancock/antioch.htm
Freeware Keyman v . 6. (Koine):
http://www.westarinstitute.org/Search/koinegreek.html#layout
Keyman Desktop v. 7. 19/59 USD: www.tavultesoft.com
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Classical Greek Keyboards: http://www.tavultesoft.com/greek/?search=greek
GreekKeys (Windows & Mac OS):
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Greek – Polytonic Greek
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (freeware):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/goglobal/bb964665.aspx
http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/keyboard_layout.htm
http://apagreekkeys.org/
Unicode Keyboards for Mac OS:
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http://wordherd.com/keyboards/
Spelling Check
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Free Ancient Greek Spelling Check for
OpenOffice:
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http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/proj
ect/ancientgreekspellchecker
Biblical Greek Spelling Check for MS Word
for MAC:
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http://www.linguistsoftware.com/WhatsNew/
whatsnew.htm#GreekUni
Help!
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Where do I find this or that character?
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I only see squares! My letters are disproportionate!
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http://www.unicode.org/charts/
BabelMap: http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html
Change your font to one that has a full character set (or at least that
for Greek)!
I don’t have any Unicode fonts!
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http://www.unicode.org/resources/fonts.html
SIL:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=FontDownloads
Gentium (by SIL):
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=gentium
TLG:
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/help/UnicodeTest.php
Unicode Fonts for Ancient Scripts (including Cuneiform and Egyptian
hieroglyphs):
http://users.teilar.gr/~g1951d/
Middle Eastern Unicode fonts:
http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts-middle-eastern.html
I want to know more about
Unicode!
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http://www.unicode.org/
http://www.unicode.org/standard/tutorialinfo.html
http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/unicode
.html
http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input
http://members.aon.at/neuhold/antike/grkencs_en
.html
http://ebible.org/translation/Unicode+BibleTransla
tion.pdf