InPage is a

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...

and

page layout In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives. The high-level page layout involves deciding on the ...

software by Concept Software Pvt. Ltd., an Indian information technology company. It is used for languages such as

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Balti, Balochi,

Burushaski Burushaski (; , ) is a language isolate, spoken by the Burusho people, who predominantly reside in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. There are also a few hundred speakers of this language in northern Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu ...

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, Persian, Punjabi, Sindhi and Shina under

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. It was first developed in 1994 and is primarily used for creating pages in Urdu, using the Nasta`līq (نستعلیق) ('hanging' calligraphic) style of Arabic script.

Overview

InPage is used on PCs where the user wishes to create their documents in Urdu, using the style of Nastaliq with a vast

ligature Ligature may refer to: Language * Ligature (writing), a combination of two or more letters into a single symbol (typography and calligraphy) * Ligature (grammar), a morpheme that links two words Medicine * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture us ...

library while keeping the display of characters on screen

WYSIWYG In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for what you see is what you get, refers to software that allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed document, web ...

. Overall, this makes the on-screen and printed results more 'faithful' to hand-written calligraphy than most other Urdu software on the market at the time of InPage's release. This faithfulness is achieved while keeping the software simple and easy-to-use, akin to earlier versions of standard English

Desktop Publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...

packages such as

QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is desktop publishing software for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It runs on macOS and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and p ...

and

Adobe InDesign Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application software, application produced by Adobe Inc., Adobe and first released in 1999. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, ...

. Before being used within InPage, 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 Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use wit ...

(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. (est. 1988 in Delhi), led by Rarendra Singh and Vijay Gupta, with the collaboration of a UK company called Multilingual Solutions 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 and augmented for use as the main Urdu font in this software, along with 40 other non-Nastaliq fonts. InPage is reported to be used on millions of PCs in Pakistan and India (mainly illegal pirated versions). It has also been widely marketed and sold legally in the UK and India since 1994. InPage launched its Version 3 at ITCN exhibition Asia in Karachi, Pakistan, held in August 2008. This version is Unicode based, supports more Languages, and other Nastaliq fonts with Kasheeda have been added to it along with compatibility with OpenType Unicode fonts. In addition to Arabic, Saraiki, Urdu, Persian and Pashto, other languages of the region, such as Sindhi and Hazaragi can be handled in InPage. The latest version 4.0 launched on 6th January, 2024 at NCPUL National Urdu Book Fair, Mumbai, India. This version is backwards compatible with files created with version 2.92 and up along with extra fonts and some minor fixes.

References

External links

* {{official Desktop publishing software Urdu calligraphy Urdu-language computing Software industry in India Software companies of India Indian brands Indian companies established in 1988 Software companies established in 1988

Overview

See also

References

External links