A Breakthrough Urdu Keyboard
For too long, typing Urdu has required the use of archaic layouts, shift keys, and bad correction. Modern technology has been built for Latin script first. Urdu support has been delivered with a spate of compromises that has left us believing that Urdu is not fit for modern computing. The reality is that it is computing that is not sufficient for Urdu.
Matnsaz changes this. A rethought keyboard layout uses the layers of the Arabic script itself, to compress a large alphabet into an easy-to-use modern keyboard. This is powered by a state of the art auto-correct system, built on the language of Urdu scholars.
This heralds a new era of Urdu computing.
Press
“A stark improvement on the standard Urdu keyboards available on mainstream devices”
“An Urdu keyboard that makes things easier”
“Matnsaz taking Urdu software technology to next level”
– MIT Technology Review Pakistan
“an effort to encourage more developers to pick up the mantle and keep the 1,000-year-old language alive in software”
– Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
“a collaboration across continents and disciplines to build infrastructure for software developers across the world that want to support Urdu and other languages in the Arabic script”
– Harvard Graduate School of Design
“tackles a tech issue with cultural significance”
More: The Friday Times, Express Tribune, The Nation, Rest of World, Harvard Design Engineering
Resources for Developers & Researchers
Our work on the keyboard requires the development of intermediate technology, which we have open-sourced for the benefit of the Urdu community worldwide.
Makhzan مخزن
An Urdu text corpus for machine learning, natural language processing and linguistic analysis.
Naqqash نقّاش
The string processing library for Arabic script that should have come built-in with every programming language.