Typing Hebrew in OS X

OS X comes with keyboards and fonts that let you type and read Hebrew. Also there is a language kit which can be installed in OS 9 that allows you to work in Hebrew script in Classic mode.

Although outdated in various ways, the manual for the OS 9 Hebrew Language Kit contains some useful information. It can be downloaded at:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50037

Additional keyboards for Hebrew can be found here:

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/fs/FileSharing9.html

http://www.deinde.org/danzac/HebrewTrans.zip

Additional fonts that work with OS X can be found here:

http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=EzraSIL_Home

http://www.sbl-site.org/Resources/default.aspx

http://www.scholarsfonts.net/cardofnt.html

Special Sites: Some websites of interest to users employ non-standard Hebrew encodings. An example would be

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/OldTestamentHebrew/

To use such pages you need to download and install the special fonts indicated on the site. You may need to try different browsers and wordprocessing apps to get satisfactory results.

Direction Issues: In TextEdit, for best results use rich text mode and activate the menu item Format/Text/Writing Direction/Right to Left. Most word processors have a similar setting for Direction, sometimes under paragraph formatting, or even a button in a toolbar. In Mail, you need to use Control Click and access the contextual menu for the Writing Direction option (and make sure the default font in Mail Preferences is set to Lucida Grande rather than Helvetica). If necessary, you can also try the add-on Direction Service or Writing Direction Menu..

Applications: Some Apple OS X Applications that can do Hebrew are TextEdit, Mail, Address Book, iChat, iTunes, iMovie6 , FCE, and FCP. Pages, Keynote, and iWeb have various bugs with input/editing but may work acceptably for some users, especially if copy/paste from other apps is sufficient. Word processors worth trying are Mellel, Nisus Writer Express, iText Pro, AbiWord, NeoOffice, OpenOffice, and StarOffice. Applications which do not work include AppleWorks, MS Office, and probably all Adobe and MacroMedia apps, except for the special Adobe ME series, which can be found here:

http://www.winsoft.fr/products/MEProducts.html

http://www.fontworld.com/me/freedemo.html

Sites of possible interest are:

Yeda

Plonter

Hebrew MUG

IsraMac