Viewing Hebrew Web Pages and Email

Sometimes Hebrew on web pages is in a format all computers can read.  In other cases, the Hebrew text comes out as phonetic symbols, a.k.a gibberish. 

Note: These instructions are for PCs with Windows98 Second Edition or higher

1.  In the Internet Explorer toolbar, click on Tools, select Internet Options. 

In the box that opens, click on Languages.  

In that box, click Add, which brings up a language list. 

Select Hebrew. 

Click OK.  Click OK again to exit box, and OK again to exit next box and return to screen.

2.  When Hebrew gibberish is on the screen:  

From toolbar, go to View, select Encoding, and choose one of the Hebrew settings. 

You may need to select "More" to bring up side menus with Hebrew choices. 

Usually only Hebrew ISO Logical and Hebrew ISO Visual work.  ISO Logical works for most pages. 

If the Hebrew letters are reversed (left to rt.), pick a different Hebrew setting until it comes out correctly. 

For e-mail: Use the same process, but "Encoding" may be on the Format menu.

Note :  The first time you go to a Hebrew website, you may get a pop-up menu allowing you to download Hebrew fonts or capability. 

1.  Go to Control Panel [click Start, Settings, Control Panel] and choose Keyboard. 

In the box that opens, click Language, then click Add to see the language list. 

If Hebrew is already on the list, select it and add. 

[If not, cancel and exit Control Panel, and go to Step 2.] 

In the same box, choose the method of switching between Hebrew and English. 

You now have an Israeli Hebrew keyboard which works  in many Windows programs.  In some you will have to type Hebrew backwards; others, such as Outlook Express, allow right-to-left typing.  You can also use it to type Hebrew normally in "search" boxes and other blanks on Israeli websites.

2.   If Hebrew is not on the list, you can get Hebrew language ability by installing Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher - by doing a custom installation and choosing language ability which includes Hebrew and other languages. 

Internet Explorer 6.0 may be the only one available for a free download now -
it's at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp . 

I don't know if there's a way to install only the Hebrew language package itself, to add to your existing program - you might contact Microsoft about this.  If you already have Internet Explorer and are not familiar with installation/re-installation issues, please get advice before proceeding.

3.   The keyboard layout doesn't allow you to type vowels.  Shifting gives you English in caps. 
(If you switched to Hebrew and still can only type English, the Caps Lock key may be down.)

You can buy Hebrew stickers for the keys at many Judaica stores or at websites, such as www.davka.com .

A.  Switch keyboard language to Hebrew. 

You can switch back and forth between Hebrew, English and any other language as much as you want. 

Or, type English within the Hebrew by using the shift key or caps lock. 

An icon on the toolbar allows you to type right to left;

or you can go to Format, Paragraph, to change the direction. 

Whether you set the general direction or not, you will always be typing words right to left - but the punctuation may fall in the wrong place.

B.  Before sending, make sure encoding is in a Western European code, or else Hebrew won't appear correctly to the receiver.  

It will come out as question marks, which can't be changed.  Normally, the receiver sees your Hebrew as phonetic symbols and then puts on Hebrew encoding to read it.

C. After you press "Send" a box appears asking how to send it. 

Click "Send As Is" - the message will appear as typed, once the receiver turns on Hebrew encoding. 

If you click "Send as Unicode" the Hebrew text will be small and ugly - but can be read without changing the encoding, provided the receiver's email supports Unicode.