Program updates Navajo language for computers (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Program updates Navajo language for computers

The Associated Press
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=121304a7_navajofonts

FARMINGTON, N.M. - The Navajo language is getting an updated look,
thanks to students at San Juan College.

Navajo Word Processor 3.1 will soon hit shelves at the college
bookstore, offering a full-featured word processor with four new Navajo
fonts, an English-to-Navajo dictionary and a Navajo-to-English
dictionary.

It is the latest version of a program first developed in the early 1990s
when instructor Timothy Reeves asked his advanced computer programming
students to develop a word processor for the Navajo language.

Reeves had taught at a community college in Tsaile, Ariz., in the late
1980s, where he developed a special font for Navajo after students
asked for his help in publishing a campus newspaper in Navajo.

"Navajo has some accent marks that do not exist anywhere in the world
except other Athabaskan languages," said Reeves, who teaches computer
science.

His students have been updating and improving the software since the
original version was rolled out.

The latest version includes a pop-up menu, color palette and insert
buttons and a style bar with font selections.

The four new fonts are Times New Roman for Navajo, Lucida Sans for
Navajo, Courier for Navajo and Arial for Navajo. The fonts have been
licensed by Agfa Monotype Corp., the font owner.

"The reason we're doing this is, there are plenty of people who need to
type in Navajo," Reeves said.