First of all it is my recommendation to all those Arabic Learners out there that want to get started with typing Arabic, get a Mac…i mean you don’t see all those reporters in Iraq with Mac’s because they look cool….anyway….As you probably know by now…Mac’s make Arabic keyboarding a cinche. I mean, the standard Arabic Keylayout is literally “STANDARD” meaning pre-installed…and if you want to modify the Mac Qwerty or even Standard Keylayout then all you need is Ukelele (described on a previous posting, see below).
Ok….enought of that….i’m sorry i went on so long about that Mac VS. PC stuff………but the point i’m trying to make is…….this is an area where IT REALLY DOES MAKE A DIFF WHICH ONE YOU GOT:-)
If you are a PC “buff” or if you are stuck with a PC, and still can’t keep yourself away from Unicode Scripts like Arabic: Then follow this link!!! You’ll be doing this stuff like this: أنا أُحِبُّ ماكينتَوش ولُغَةِ العَرَبيةِ in no time!!! Especially if you go with a QWERTY setup. And of course the Qwerty setup i recommend most…..is aziizkeez (you can download the latest version below). Reach all the most important haraket/tashkeel without HITTING SHIFT….I call it “Qwerty for Educators and Students” cuz I don’t think anyone else almost ever uses all those cool looking vowels….enjoy here is the link to get you PC people in the game;-)
ARABICIZING WINDOWS APPLICATIONS TO READ AND WRITE ARABIc
The University of Chicago (Graduate Student)
The above article is now available as a POWER POINT presentation!!! ALSO the both links are as of NOW UP TO DATE…..meaning if you downloaded it before…..it might be worth a another shot.
Risala: The Arabic Learner's Weblog 
A more recent and more comprehensive version of my article is available in PDF from: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/mideast/Multilingual_Computing_with_Arabic_and_Arabic_Transliteration.pdf
Also, a PowerPoint of my article with screen-shots is also available from: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/mideast/multilingual_computing_arabic.ppt
Comment by al-Husein N. Madhany — April 13, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
I downloaded aziizkeez_4.kcl, but I don’t know what to do with it. I open it with word, and it has codes. What should I do with them? i thought this was a file to reprogram the arabic keyboard. can you please help?
Comment by H.A. — May 8, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
Could you please point me to instructions using Windows Vista Ultimate?
You can use the email address provided to mail me.
I can display most fonts that I cut and paste from the web in word, msn etc. But having problems displaying one type of font. Don’t know what it is.
Thanks in advance
Comment by question — September 9, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Really – the power point download doesn’t work, we download a “.kcl” which no-one knows what to do with. Exactly what are you doing? Can you not even answer someone who posted in May 2007 how to install the qwerty arabic keyboard? If your program doesn’t work how about clearing up your website(s)?
Comment by shirley — April 18, 2008 @ 7:46 pm