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Editors

There are a number of products available, both free and commercial, which can produce Bangla text output on a variety of computer systems. These programs range from simple "notepad" editors to full-blown word processors and multilanguage program suites. I have made a distinction between those products which support unicode encoding and those that do not. Unicode is a worldwide standard for representing text, and is already widely implemented. Products that work with unicode are more likely to produce documents that can be read by other people. Unicode is particularly useful for development of Bangla-language web pages.

The majority of the products below were developed for the Windows operating system, although the number of Bangla products available for Linux is impressive. Note that most of the unicode-compliant programs developed for Windows are meant for version 2000 and above, which are built around a unicode-compliant core. If you use Windows, I would recommend that you consider installing a unicode-compliant keyboard driver. Many recent applications (particularly Microsoft and Adobe products) are built to work with unicode, but need some way of inputting Bangla text. With a keyboard driver, you can modify just the input part of your system and then use many of the products that you already have. Remember that you will need unicode fonts if you use these products. I have omitted programs that use a mouse-driven input method; this method is impractical when more than a small amount of text needs to be entered. I have also steered away from typesetting and publishing-related programs in favor of more general-use software.

If you have a Mac, consider downloading yudit for Mac OS or running a Windows program in emulation. A more technically daunting option would be to compile one of the unix/X11 editors from source code and then run the program in an X-windows session under OS/X.

Unicode Compliant Keyboard Drivers

These drivers are specific to the Windows OS, versions greater than Windows 2000. Eventually, Microsoft will probably implement their own solution and roll it into the operating system itself, but for now these products fill the gap. Even after Microsoft develops its own Bangla drivers, their keyboard mapping and performance may not match that of these products.

Name: Avro Keyboard
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot: Available
Source: Omicron Labs
Pros: This is a free keyboard driver that was developed to facilitate use of Bangla in computer applications. It installs easily, and a number of free fonts are available on the website. Presently, two keyboard layouts are supported, one of which is close to the widely-used bijoy layout. Apparently, there is some contention about copyright of the "bijoy" layout, so the corresponding keyboard is slightly rearranged and renamed in this and other similar products. The input method is phonetic-order entry, meaning that consonants and vowels are typed in according to the order in which they are pronounced. To force a full vowel, a "link" key is typed before the vowel. In some contexts, the program is smart enough to decide on its own where a full vowel is requiered. To form conjuncts, the "link" is pressed between consonants. Like many keyboard layouts, the aspirated form of a letter is typed by holding SHIFT plus the unaspirated letter (for example, /kh/ is obtained by holding down the shift key and typing /k/). A nice feature of this program is a floating tool bar that allows you to switch back and forth between the system font and the Bangla font. Also, a floating picture of the keyboard is available, so you do not have to tape a picture of the keyboard to your monitor for reference while learning the layout.
Cons: This product is similar to Ekusheyr keyboard, but I felt that Ekusheyr integrated with Windows more smoothly.
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Name: Ekusheyr
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot:Available
Source: Altruists, International
Pros: This keyboard driver is also free. After installation, it makes working in Bangla just like working in any other language supported by Windows. You can switch between languages using the Language Bar or a user-definable hotkey. If you are working in multiple languages, for example using latin, cyrillic and Bangla keyboard mappings, this program is an excellent choice. Several keyboard layouts are available, including a bijoy-like configuration.
Cons: The program does not have Avro's floating keyboard. I ended up writing the characters on my keyboard with an indelible marker. They rubbed off after a week or two, but by then I no longer needed to refer to them. Before installing the driver, you must decide what keyboard layout you will use, because different layouts require download of different files.
Comments: On a personal note, this is the program which I use, having reviewed all available programs.
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Name: Adhuna
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot: No.
Source: Bornosoft
Pros: Adhuna is the keyboard-driver version of Bornosoft's Bangla2000 word-processor (which itself is not unicode-compliant). Adhuna's keyboard mapping is roughly sound-equivalent to roman letters on a QWERTY keyboard. If you type a "K" you get a /k/ sound. Pressing shift and typing the same character results in the aspirated version of the character. Unlike the two above products, a "link" key is not found in Adhuna. Rather, to type a conjunct, just type the letters in sequence. The program will form the appropriate conjunct. Likewise for full vowels, in the appropriate context, typing a vowel sound will yield the correct version of the letter in Bangla. There is an "accent" key which toggles between alternative letters for a given sound as well. You can also type in transliteration, for example, "K" followed by "H" and get the corresponding Bangla letter. If you are learning Bangla, this keyboard layout maybe the most efficient, because if you can transliterate, you can type.
Cons: This product is effectively two piece of software, a keyboard reading component, and a keystroke parsing component. That complexity may underly some difficulties which I experienced installing this program on some Windows/XP machines. Adhuna is not free, but is reasonably priced for what it does.
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Unicode Compliant Editors

Name: Yudit
OS Supported: Unix/X11, Windows and Mac OS/X
Screen Shot: No.
Source: Yudit.org
Pros: Yudit is the Swiss Army knife of unicode editors -- it can even handle right-to-left scripts.
Cons: The program is more complex than most editors, so it is not suprising that its configuration requires some work.
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Name: Lekho (লেখ)
OS Supported: Windows, Unix/X11
Screen Shot: Available
Source: SourceForge
Pros: This is a free, open source, multi-platform unicode editor. The program maps latin characters to Bangla characters and is infinitely configurable. Using the default layout, typing is a bit awkward at first, but is easier than the documentation would suggest. The program includes a spell-checker.
Cons: The program is more of a text-editor than a word-processor and lacks many advanced features.
Comments:If you are interested in the technical side of things, the source code for the program is available. Also, two interesting documents are available on the distribution site: one is about how keystrokes are parsed by the program, the other discusses the spellcheck algorithm.
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Name: Alpona
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot: No.
Source: Akshor.com
Comments: I was unable to download this product from its website. According to the website, the professional version of the product (not free) supports unicode, but the standard version does not.
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Name: Unitype Products
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot: Global Office,Global Writer
Source: Unitype
Pros: These are professional-grade packages that support multiple languages. If you need a multilanguage solution, particularly for complex scripts, these produts would be an excellent choice. Global writer is a stand-alone word processor. Global office is an add-on to the Microsoft Office suite. When typing in Bangla, the key strokes are intercepted word-by-word, with automatic conjunction formation.
Cons: The word-by-word entry is a bit tedious. These packages are a more expensive solution than many of the above.
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Editors that are not unicode compliant

Name: Bangla2000
OS Supported: Windows
Screen Shot: Available
Source: Bornosoft
Pros: See Adhuna, above, for a discussion of the input method. This is a polished but inexpensive word-processor that comes with its own non-unicode fonts. The interface will be immediately familiar to anyone who has worded with Microsoft Word.
Cons: It is not free and does not support unicode, otherwise, it is an excellent product.
Comments: If you are working on an earlier version of windows that does not support unicode, this may be a good choice if you like the keyboard layout.
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