!כֵּן,Â × ×•Ö¼×›Ö·×œ
Until recently, iPad-using Hebraists had no good options for typing Hebrew with vowels on the aforementioned iPads. Apple provides a Hebrew keyboard for the iPad, but it does not include the × Ö°×§Ö»×“Ö¼×•Ö¹×ª. Recently, however, third-party developer Žiga Kranjec released Unicode Maps, an app with an unattractive name but a very attractive function. Unicode Maps allows you to look up and copy any Unicode glyph available on the iPad. Even better, you can create your own customized keyboard and type—but only on a notepad within Unicode Maps—using that keyboard.
Once you’ve typed your text, you can copy it (notice the shortcut “Copy All†button in the upper left-hand corner) and paste it into pretty much any other iPad app that uses editable text, including Keynote, Pages, and Safari (when the website uses editable text areas). Of course, you’ll do best to return to Unicode Maps if you need to edit the Hebrew text you’ve typed; the behavior of right-to-left and non-Roman text on the iPad still leaves much to be desired. Even so, Unicode Maps opens up all sorts of new possibilities for using the iPad to produce and edit materials that involve nikkud-enhanced Hebrew. In my own case, for example, I’m now taking a second look at my options for using Courses (Pepperdine’s “learning management” software, powered by Sakai) as a venue for assessments in my first-year Biblical Hebrew course.
Customizing your own keyboard is easy, but a bit slow. To save you some time, you can import my Hebrew keyboard, shown above. The consonant layout follows the standard Israeli keyboard; the arrangement of the vowels and other points is based on convenience (sin and shin dots sit near the shin consonant) and the Unicode sequence. Get the keyboard for yourself by following these steps:
- Obviously, you must first purchase and install Unicode Maps on your iPad.
- Next, download HebrewWithNikkud.UnicodeMapsKeyboard to your computer.
- Send yourself an e-mail with the Hebrew keyboard as an attachment.
- Check your e-mail on your iPad. Find the message with the keyboard attached, and tap on the attachment icon.
- Your iPad will launch Unicode Maps; Unicode Maps will ask you to select a “slot” (Roman numerals I–V) for the keyboard. It doesn’t matter to me, the keyboard, or Unicode Maps which slot you choose.
- Choose the keyboard function in Unicode Maps and type away! Please note that it is not currently possible to place a backspace/delete key on a custom keyboard, so you’ll need to switch back to the standard “ABC” keyboard to backspace, or select the offending text and type over it.
- Leave a comment here to let me know that you found the keyboard useful, and rate Unicode Maps on iTunes to encourage the developer.
If you use an iPad, Unicode Maps is a must-have investment, and it’s only $1.99. Thank you, Žiga Kranjec, for this marvelous gift to iPad users everywhere!
At the Society of Biblical Literature meeting in San Francisco, the BibleReader team from Olive Tree Software demonstrated their new Mac OS client at the Bible Software Shootout 2 (which was actually a relatively dull affair, completely lacking in fireworks, bullets, handlebar mustaches, or cries of “Jumpin’ Jehoshapat!”). In further conversation later, all they would say is “very soon.” Well, it turned out to be very soon indeed—the