The Oriental TEX Project
The Oriental TEX project is an ambitious attempt to bring high quality Arabic-script typesetting to academics and, beyond, to the world at large. Recent decades have witnessed the degradation of typographical and typesetting quality of Arabic-script texts, in particular scholarly books. For example, complete sets of vowel markings and diacritics, crucial for understanding the meaning of a given text, are rarely available or readily accessible. This and other features so essential to a culturally authentic representation of Arabic script are woefully lacking in even the most expensive word processors and layout programs. Compared to the corresponding situation in Latin typography Arabic script resides in a veritable dark age. There have been some developments in, e.g., special-purpose calligraphy software. And Thomas Milo of Decotype/Tasmeem fame has made important contributions. But a general-purpose, OpenType/Unicode solution to the needs of academic and scholarly Arabic-script typesetting remains to be completed. In the coming weeks and months this page will be continually updated and expanded to give more information about and developments of OTEX as we work hard towards completion of the project. This includes the opening of the Claritas Foundry, from where the fonts and related software will be distributed. Download Sample of OTEX In Action!