BanglaWord™ Help file
1. Introduction
BanglaWord is a smart word processing application, specifically designed for writing Bengali
documents. Bangla text is entered using only the vowels (swarabarnas) and the consonant
(banjonbarnos). The conjunct characters (juktho okkors) are placed automatically by the system
if possible otherwise when indicated by the user. Bengali alphabet is mapped phonetically on to
the standard QWERTY keyboard, independent of any Bangla font. This minimizes the initial
learning curve and removes the need for physical layout template.
2. Feature
2.1 Bangla Word uses a smart typing method; where you only need to remember how to type
the Bengali alphabet from the QWERTY keyboard. The characters of the Bengali alphabet are
placed on their phonetic, English, equivalent keys (with a few exceptions).
2.2 No special context menus or physical keyboard templates are required for infrequently used
letters or jukthos.
2.3 Vowels following the consonants are automatically represented in their ‘Akhar’, ‘ekar’, etc
form
2.4 Juktho representation of two characters can be obtained simply by typing the two characters
as normal, followed by F1 key and the F2 key can be used to undo the jukto.
2.5 Type Bangla characters in the same order as the words are spelt in Bangla.
2.6 Same keyboard layout for all Bangla fonts (fonts must be configured first). Configuration
file for the most popular fonts are already included.
2.7 Automatically convert between different Bangla fonts, simply by selecting the appropriated
text and then changing the font in the usual way.
2.8 Change between English and Bangla fonts simply by pressing a key (F12 key)
2.9 Recognised Bangla font indicator in font pulldown, allows you to see all the Bangla fonts that
will work with our program. Be sure to visit our site for updated font configuration files.
3. How to type
3.1 Keyboard layout
The Bengali characters are mapped on to the ‘QWERTY’ keyboard under their phonetically
(similar sounding) equivalent English characters. For example L is mapped on to k and M is
mapped under K (shift k). There are of course exceptions to this rule as not all Bengali characters
have similar sounding English equivalent. For example a, b, c, d, etc. On the other hand, there
are English characters that phonetically do not match any Bangla characters. For these non-
matching characters, we have mapped them on the remaining unused keys. Hence, we advice all
new users of Bangla Word to only memorise the non-matching keys. Following is a complete list
of phonetically non-matching Keys:
q = r Shift +
q
= y
v = c Shift +
v
= d
w = P
x = a Shift +
x
= b
z = É Shift +
f
= v
. = z (Dari)
Ctrl +
g
= w
h = x
One not so obvious is:
C = <Q>, shift <R> (think of C as in chittagong)
Full Keyboard layout can be found on Appendix A.
3.1 Juktho (okkar) Key F1 and undo Juktho (okkar) Key F2
In BanglaWord Press F1 after typing two characters will automatically obtain the juktho of those
two characters. Pressing F2 will reverse the action of F1. For example typing the following
sequence kk<F1 key> will give ‚, similarly typing sp<F1> will give Øf but pressing <F2 key> will
undo the juktho and put the pf back. For reference purpose Appendix B contains list of the
jukthos against their constituent characters.
Please note that there are many instances where you do not require an automatic jukto or would
like B instead of the automatic ¡ then then you can simply press the F2 key to get your unjoined
character.
3.2 Writing Bangla
Words that do not contains any Juktho-okkars can be typed as simply by finding the Bangla
okkors from the keyboard, for example
Lmj is typed by typing 'klm'
Bj¡l is typed by typing 'amar', notice that the first 'a' typed B and the 'a' after 'm' typed ¡.
l¡¢qj is typed by typing 'rahim'
As mentioned earlier any word that has juktho-okkars has to be typed with the aid the F1 key.
Let us look at some example of how such words are typed in BanglaWord
Bë¤m is typed by typing 'abv<F1>ul'
nˡhe is typed by typing 'Sr<F1>abn'
Appendix A
BanglaWord keyboard layout
For example, the Bengali characters under the S key can be obtained as follows:
Keyboard Layout Tabulated
Bengali characters and the corresponding key strokes to obtain them
Following are only available after typing a consonant
Appendix B
List of all Juktho Okkars and the corresponding characters required to obtain them.
Note: this is NOT a complete list. The complete list will be available in the final release.
