Considering Nisus for both English and Arabic

[Ibramr]

Greetings to all.

As a new Mac user, I was introduced to Nisus Pro as a possible processor for both English and Arabic. I have downloaded the program for the initial demo period. I was able to write few paragraphs in Arabic, but it was not possible to find the Arabic dictionary to check the spelling. So, the first question is whether the program comes with an Arabic Dictionary or not; if not, is there a solution?

The second issue is related to inserting a footnote while writing in Arabic--when inserted, the cursor for the footnote shift to the left as it will be written in English. Is this normal, or I am missing something?

There is a steep learning curve, but maybe it is worth it. Your advice regarding the two questions above is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[martin]

Hello and welcome! Both to the Mac and to Nisus Writer Pro (NWP). Hopefully we can help guide you through any troubles you run into:

I was able to write few paragraphs in Arabic, but it was not possible to find the Arabic dictionary to check the spelling. So, the first question is whether the program comes with an Arabic Dictionary or not; if not, is there a solution?

NWP does not technically come with any dictionaries, but it is able to use any dictionaries installed on your computer. There are some freely available Arabic dictionaries for the Mac, so you should be able to install one that works with NWP.

One free Arabic dictionary is offered by Ayaspell. Once you download their free dictionary you can unzip it and move the ".aff" and ".dic" files into your Library folder to install it. For more details on this process, see this FAQ on spelling dictionaries. The ".aff" and ".dic" files from Ayaspell are Hunspell files, so you can skip step 2 in the FAQ.

The second issue is related to inserting a footnote while writing in Arabic--when inserted, the cursor for the footnote shift to the left as it will be written in English. Is this normal, or I am missing something?

Do you mean the insertion point in the footnote area is left aligned? If so, then you could adjust your Footnote style so that enforces a right paragraph alignment. You might also check (using the Sections palette) that your document section is set to "right to left". I'll attach a template file here that has all this applied, so you might see the result.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

[Ibramr]

Martin,

Thank you very, very, much.

I will follow on your advice regarding the dictionary and report back to the Forum with results shortly. And Yes, your description of the issue with the left alignment of the footnote is correct.

Many thanks and best regards,