- InPage
InPage is a page layout software for languages such as
Urdu , Persian, Pashto and Arabic under Windows which was first developed in 1994. It is primarily used for creating pages in the language of Urdu, using the Nasta`līq (نستعلبق) ('hanging' calligraphic) style of Arabic script. As a de-facto standard Urdu publishing tool, InPage is widely used on PCs where the user wishes to create their documents in Urdu, using the authentic style of Nastaliq with a vast ligature library (more than 20,000), while keeping the display of characters on screenWYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). This makes the on-screen & printed result more beautiful than any other software on the market, while keeping the operation easy, akin to the operation of standard EnglishDesktop Publishing packages such as Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign.The Noori style of Nastaliq which was first created as a digital typeface (font) in 1981 through the collaboration of Mirza Ahmad Jamil TI (as Calligrapher) and Monotype Imaging (formerly Monotype Corp.) suffered from two problems in the 1990s: a) its non-availability on standard platforms such as Windows or Mac, and b) the non-WYSIWYG nature of text entry, whereby the document had to be created by commands in Monotype's proprietary page description language.
In 1994, an Indian software development team - Concept Software Pvt Ltd, led by Rarendra Singh & Vijay Gupta, with the help of a UK company called Multilingual Solutions Window on World Limited led by Kamran Rouhi, developed InPage Urdu for Pakistan's newspaper industry, who up until that time had been using large teams of calligraphers to hand-write last minute corrections to text created under Monotype's proprietary system. The Noori Nastaliq typeface was licensed for InPage from Monotype & augmented for use as the main Urdu font in this software, along with 40 other non-Nastaliq fonts.
InPage is reported to be in use on millions of PCs in Pakistan & India (mainly illegal pirated version). It has also been widely marketed & sold legally in the UK and India since 1994, and is utilized in the majority of UK schools & local authorities where Urdu is a main language of pupils & constituents.
External links
* [http://www.inpage.com InPage homepage]
* [http://www.languagearcade.com InPage Distributor outside India]
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